Mount Desert Islander (June 2008) - by Robert Levin

BAR HARBOR — High fuel costs are clamping down on the operations of an islandwide nonprofit agency that serves senior citizens and people with disabilities.

For more than a decade, Island Connections has helped area seniors get to out-of-town medical appointments along with many other services. But the cost of gasoline has risen so high that many of the volunteers the organization relies upon can no longer find it within their budgets to provide rides, said program director Sue Olson.

Many of Island Connections’ clients need to go to Bangor regularly for medical appointments. For cancer care, heart specialists, and doctors for some of the more complex eye issues, Bangor often offers the area’s only choice for treatment.

Typically, Island Connections volunteers supply from three to seven trips to the Queen City every week. But just last week, Ms. Olson said, she had to turn down three requests for rides to Bangor, because no one was able to do it.

"All of the doctors here on the island are referring to doctors in Bangor," Ms. Olson said. "That’s asking a volunteer, out of his own pocket, to pay $25 to $35 in gas there and back. It makes you feel so bad, when a volunteer says it’s the end of the month, they’re on a fixed income, and they cannot do it."

The group has more than 100 volunteers, with about 75 of them active at any one time, serving 200 of their neighbors, as Ms. Olson puts it. Most of the volunteers, like the people they serve, are senior citizens living on fixed incomes.

"The core volunteers for Island Connections are seniors who have retired and really want to reach out and give back to the community," she said.

Earlier this winter, a large donation supported the purchase of several dozen $20 gas cards. It helped for a while, Ms. Olson said, but the last one was just given out, and she isn’t sure where to go from here.

And the price of fuel has continued to rise, causing headaches for more than just trips to Bangor.

"Now, we’re talking about whether or not we can come up with the money for $10 to go to Ellsworth," she said.

Island Connections volunteers do more than provide rides. They deliver 75 meals a day, five days a week, to people islandwide. They gather island senior citizens and disabled people once a month for a social event. They support a weekly movie at Reel Pizza in the winter that draws about 50 people and costs only $3.

In May, the day before the Jordan Pond House opens to the public, they gather a couple hundred people together for tea and popovers. All summer they arrange picnics, and year-round go out to restaurants and visit people in their homes.

"Their selfless kindness and their support and their giving to their neighbors is phenomenal," Ms. Olson said. "I don’t think I can brag enough about the volunteers I have supporting this organization."

rlevin@mdislander.com