Meals On Wheels Needs Your Help

A local Meals on Wheels program in desperate need of volunteers after gas prices forced regular volunteer drivers to duck out.

They deliver a hot meal to 250 elderly Martin County residents 5 days a week. Daphne Stewart of the Martin County Council of Aging says, "It only takes about 2 hours once a week it's very fulfilling to do."

A fulfilling service that is hurt by high gas prices, "Gas is $4 a gallon and most of the routes are relatively short, but when you get down into Hobe Sound or or out west in Stuart you are running a 13 mile route."

Daphne Stewart of the Martin County Meals on Wheels program says they normally have 30 volunteer drivers in the summer. This summer, they have lost 20 of those.

The nearly 2 dozen drivers listed economic reasons as to why they couldn't help. So, now employees are pitching in to get all senior citizens their hot lunchtime food. In the end the senior citizens suffer, "So much of our service is going to our clients house everyday, they have someone looking in on them, they have someone checking in on them."

It isn't just the sticker shock at the pump hurting meals on wheels. Higher food prices are adding up, "We've had to start a waiting list for seniors to receive meals and we've had reduce the number of clients we can serve cause the food prices are so high."

If both gas and food prices continue to rise, Daphne Stewart says they might have to change to frozen meals.

If you would like to volunteer, call 772-223-7800. If you qualify you could receive 29 cents per gallon to deliver.