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Gas Prices Stall Volunteer Drivers

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By LAURA FRAZIER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 8, 2008

BRANDON - BRANDON - Paul King knows the importance of having someone available for a ride to cancer treatment.

A survivor of three kinds of cancer, King said he understands why patients often rely on drivers who volunteer for the American Cancer Society's Road to Recovery program in Brandon.

With the cost of gas soaring to above $4 a gallon, however, some volunteers are finding themselves priced out of or limiting their service. Such is the case with King and his wife, Joan, who drive cancer patients to treatments only two or three times a week these days.

They used to step up whenever the program needed them, but rising fuel costs recently forced the couple to limit the number of trips they make.

"I would not want to be responsible for a person not being able to get treatment," Paul King said. "There is just no reason on earth that people with cancer should be deprived of a way to get their treatments."

However, the cancer society and other programs that rely on volunteer drivers to deliver meals and provide transportation to Hillsborough County's elderly, homebound and infirm residents are struggling to retain and recruit volunteers.

Agency Still Plans To Expand

Nancy Drourr, community services director for Meals On Wheels of Tampa, said about 10 volunteer drivers resigned during the past two weeks. The agency delivers about 500 meals a day to senior citizens and disabled adults in Tampa.

"One after another, they called and said they regretted it but they had to discontinue the service because of the price of gas," Drourr said. "This is something we've never heard before."

Despite a drop in volunteers, requests for meals continue to roll in. Drourr said the organization is committed to continuing to serve clients and expanding its service area.

"We are in expansion mode," Drourr said. "We also want to help fill in the gaps where the county is serving meals but they have run out of money."

That initiative, the Hillsborough County Aging Services department's nutrition service, last week referred about 20 new requests to Meals On Wheels, program manager Edgar Martinez said.

The county delivers lunch five days a week to 1,600 senior citizens but has not accepted any new clients since September. He said that although costs and public need for the program increase every year, the agency is operating within a budget freeze as a result of Florida's Amendment One property tax reform.

"We can't add any more," Martinez said. "It's unfortunate, because the issue with our clients is that there are always new clients. We cannot stop time."

Program Overwhelmed By Requests

Pete Ryner, route coordinator for the cancer society's Road To Recovery program in Brandon, said he is short on volunteers and overwhelmed with requests from cancer patients who need rides to doctors' appointments and chemotherapy treatments.

"A lot of our volunteers are cutting down on the number of trips they make or the miles they drive because of the price of gas," Ryner said. The Brandon program has 11 drivers, about half the number it did a year ago.

Cancer patient Evelyn Webb said rides are hard to come by because no volunteer drivers live near her Plant City home. Road to Recovery covers the cost of a limited number of taxi rides per patient when drivers are not available, and she has taken advantage of the service several times.

Polk County's Road to Recovery group also recently stepped in to help her get to and from chemotherapy treatments in Lakeland.

Until she discovered the driver program a year ago, Webb said her daughters drove from their homes in Tampa and Orlando to take her to appointments.

"I used to pass out at the steering wheel, so they don't trust me to drive," Webb said. "Plus, after my infusions, I get weak, and it bothers my vision. It's not safe for me to drive."

Cost is a big factor, too.

"If I had to pay for a cab, it would totally drain me, and I would absolutely be in the red," she said. "I'm on a very limited income."

Lauren Thurmond, road coordinator for the Tampa Road To Recovery, said that about the same time gas reached $4 a gallon, volunteers began dropping out or told her they could not drive as much.

"It just started going downhill," Thurmond said. "A lot of my volunteers are retired and live on a very fixed income, so there is not very much they can do about it. I just got an e-mail from a driver asking me to move his maximum mileage from 30 miles to 10. It's the gas prices."

Road To Recovery has stepped up efforts to recruit drivers, and Meals On Wheels coordinators are considering gas- and time-saving steps such as delivering five frozen meals once a week. But Thurmond said the change from hot meals delivered once a day could be a problem for some.

"Some folks don't have the means to heat up frozen meals," she said.

HOW TO HELP

•For information about a Meals On Wheels program in your area, call Meals On Wheels of Tampa at (813) 238-8410 or go to www.mowaa.org.

•For information about the American Cancer Society's Road to Recovery program, call (813) 319-5916 or go to www.cancer.org.

•For information about the Hillsborough County Aging Services' elderly nutrition program, call (813) 272-5430 or go to www.hillsboroughcounty .org/aging.

Reporter Laura Frazier can be reached at (813) 657-4523 or lfrazier@tampatrib.com.

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