KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Gas prices continue to skyrocket with no signs of slowing down and it’s a problem starting to hurt nonprofits.
With it only being March, KC Shepherds Center leaders think they'll be over budget by mid-year or sooner.
“It’s scary when you're at the beginning of a budget year, and when your volunteer base is made up of seniors,” Terri Goddard said.
Goddard serves as the director of resource development at KC Shepherds Center.
For the past 50 years, Shepherds Center has helped connect older adults with their community, one hot meal at a time.
Gas is nearing the $4 mark in Kansas City and Goddard believes this could lead to a drop in volunteers who pay for their own gas and use their own cars when volunteering.
“Seniors are also living on limited incomes, and so we could see a drop in volunteer hours because of this, which would devastate us,” Goddard explained.
In addition to volunteers making deliveries, the nonprofit has three vans that help deliver additional meals to people across 93 different zip codes in the metro.
Each year, they submit a budget, and the 2022 budget for gas was based on last year’s $2.69 price and will only get reimbursed at the rate they submitted.
"I anticipate with this kind of increase that we will meet or exceed our budgeted line items by next year, so it can be drastic,” Goddard said.
KSHB 41 News spoke to a volunteer at Shepherds Center who said he’s still committed to giving back despite the surge in prices seen at the gas pump.
“To me, gas prices don't reflect the good that we do and the gas prices are up, but the need people have is up too, and I would much rather give back to the people,” Dan Scherrer said.
Since the start of the pandemic, the need for Shepherds Center services has increased by more than 1,300%, and just like for everyone else, other costs have gone up because of inflation and shortages.
Just like their gas budget, they submitted a budget for these costs based on the rates seen in 2021.
If you would like to give back to the center, they are continuing to take donations and are in need of volunteers.
