MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — Rising gas prices may be causing people to cut back on volunteerism. 

What You Need To Know:  

Friendship Trays and Loaves & Fishes need more volunteers to deliver meals and groceries 

Friendship Trays program director says even with faithful volunteers they are seeing volunteer gaps, mostly on Mondays and Fridays 

You can volunteer on a regular basis or be called as a substitute  

Friendship Trays is the Meals on Wheels program for Mecklenburg County. Program director Kelly Vass says Friendship Trays and their partner organization Loaves & Fishes are in need of more volunteers.

"Gas prices and increasing food prices are certainly making volunteers reconsider how they spend their time and money," Vass said. "We have loyal and faithful volunteers who make delivering meals a priority, yet continue to have volunteer gaps."

Volunteers, like Jarrett Wyant, use their own gas to deliver meals to people who are unable to purchase and prepare meals for themselves. Vass says Friendship Trays has nearly 300 volunteers per month who help deliver meals to around 400 people per day.

"We need volunteers each day," Vass said. "We cannot exist without them."

Wyant says he has been volunteering with Friendship Trays since September 2021, and the mileage is not an issue for him. 

"It's probably $2.00 more per trip than it used to be," Wyant said. "No, that's not going to stop me from delivering meals to the folks that need it." 

Vass says the nonprofit saves some volunteers miles by dropping off meals closer to the delivery routes at Huntersville United Methodist Church and Sardis Presbyterian Church, rather than picking up from Friendship Trays on Tyvola Road. For the meals that don't have a driver, three part-time paid employees with Friendship Trays will pick up the duties. 

Vass says making sure people are fed is their top priority.

"Meals arrive later in the day, but they do get delivered," Vass said.

Mondays and Fridays are when they see the largest volunteer gaps, especially over the summer with people going on vacations, according to Vass. 

"If someone wants to volunteer on a regular basis or be a substitute that we can call spontaneously, we are open and receptive to them contacting us," Vass said.