Cascading Costs

Most of us have been hit by the rising cost of oil. It's cost much more to fill up our cars, and it's cost much more to fill up our grocery carts with the goods that have been trucked to the store. But the increases have had other kinds of effects, ones that aren't so visible to many of us. This article in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune pointed to one of those effects. I'll be honest: it took me a while to compose myself enough to post this after reading it.

Some senior food programs in the Twin Cities and nationwide are having to change their tactics to retain and recruit volunteers in a time of $4-a-gallon gas.

"It's not that people don't want to volunteer," said Denise Harris, the North Minneapolis program's executive director. But when volunteering is "going to cost you some real money, you have to think hard about that."

Almost a third of Twin Cities programs have seen volunteers quit or reduce their hours because of gas prices, according to a survey Metro Meals on Wheels conducted in early June and will release Monday.

Nationwide, 58 percent of programs have lost volunteers because of gas prices, according to a survey the Meals on Wheels Association of America conducted in May.

Many of those volunteers are themselves retired and living on a fixed income so the price hikes have hit them hard. It's hard to blame them for pulling back under the circumstances.

And there are other factors involved in the crunch these organizations are facing. Donations from the public have been affected as even the best intentioned of Americans are facing hard choices. State governments, most of which are themselves struggling with budget deficits because of the economy and increased fuel costs, can't be counted upon to increase their grants to such groups as Meals On Wheels. As a result, service has been or will soon have to be cut.

Nationwide, 48 percent of the programs surveyed nationally have eliminated routes or consolidated their meals service, with some making just one drop-off per client each week, delivering one hot meal and four frozen.

This is a significant reduction of service. Too often, the volunteer delivering the meals is the only visitor the recipient has. The volunteer can easily tell if the elder is physically and mentally well, or whether medical help is needed. If those visits are cut back to just once a week, well ...

As a comment appended to the article pointed out, one of the measures of a "Good Society" is how it treats its elders. Good intentions aren't enough. And, unfortunately, this is going to be an increasing problem as our economy continues to slide and the costs of fuel and heating rise.