Got the meals, but they need more wheels
Meals on Wheels falls short of drivers, maybe due to gas prices

BY DENISE LOCKWOOD dlockwood@kenoshanews.com 

    
    Blame it on the weather — or maybe the high gas prices — but the reality is the number of volunteer recruits is down significantly from the first quarter of last year to this year for the county’s Meals on Wheels program.
    Lauren Zielsdorf, director of the Meals on Wheels program for Kenosha County, said last year they recruited 25 volunteers from January through
    March of 2007. This year, they have 11 recruits.
    “I’m not prepared to blame all of that on the gas prices, but I can bet a lot of people are saying, ‘I’ll wait until the gas prices come down and then I’ll come in,’ ” Zielsdorf said.
    Z i e l s d o r f isn’t worried about losing the volunteers she does have; it’s attracting new people into the program that might prove to be a challenge since their is no mileage reimbursement for the Meals on Wheels program.
    “We always need more volunteers,” Zielsdorf said.
    Carol Pavlovich and her brother, Jim Gascoigne, have been volunteering for about six years and they love serving meals to people, but they wish more people would come out to help volunteer.
    Pavlovich doesn’t care if gas reaches $10 a gallon, she will continue to volunteer. But as the gas prices creep higher and higher, it is starting to take away some of her disposable cash as she too lives on a fixed income. Still, she said she budgets for the increase every month. It may mean not going to the movies or having an extra treat, but it’s an expense that she’s willing to pay.
    “It used to take $20 to fill my gas tank and now it’s taking $40 to $50 to fill it, but it’s worth it,” Pavlovich said. “If they call us, we will go. I love the job because you get to meet different people and you get to talk to different people.”
    The two have taken on additional routes because they have been substituting for other drivers. Gascoigne helps out with the heavy lifting, but he also helps Pavlovich every once in a while with the gas.
    “As long as she wants to keep doing it, we’ll do it,” he said. “What people don’t realize is that these people gotta eat. You can’t let them starve. I do wish though we had more help.”
    Volunteers provide meals to people who are elderly or disabled in their homes. The volunteers deliver to 250 people a day throughout Kenosha County, which includes 30 routes that cover these deliveries. Each month, they serve approximately 5,200 hot meals.
    But with gas prices on the increase and potentially reaching $4 a gallon this summer, Pavlovich wishes that some of the area gas stations would donate some gas cards. She said Lou Perrine’s Gas & Groceries donated gas card vouchers at Christmas time, which was nice.
    “Who couldn’t use the extra money?” she said.
    The county’s volunteer escort program, which provides rides for elderly and disabled persons to medical appointments, shopping, and other essential trips, has not seen a significant decrease in the number of new recruits. However, the volunteer escort program does reimburse drivers 35 cents a mile.
    Wally Flesch, who has been volunteering with the escort program for three years, said the gas prices won’t deter him from volunteering.
    “I meet a lot of nice people,” Flesch said. “If I couldn’t afford to do it, I wouldn’t do it. You get reimbursed by the people you meet.”