VICTORIA, British Columbia, June 10 (UPI) -- The rising price of gasoline has forced the closure of a Canadian Meals on Wheels charity for the housebound in Victoria, British Columbia.
Regular gas was selling for $5.60 a gallon in the city Monday and the charity's chairman, Terry Prentice told the Globe and Mail newspaper that meal deliveries were being suspended for the first time in 35 years.
"We would need an additional $2,000 a week to keep it going," Prentice said.
Volunteer drivers will no longer deliver 275 meals a day to the disabled and elderly, the report said.
A similar crisis is looming for Meals on Wheels in Calgary, Alberta, where manager Kathryn Robson said some of its 650 volunteer drivers had reduced their commitment and more of them are asking for gas reimbursement as well.
Calgary's program delivers more than 30,000 meals per year, Robson told the Globe and Mail.
In Toronto, Beth Stern, the executive director of Meals on Wheels and More said drivers get reimbursed about 70 cents a mile but that "will probably have to go up," the newspaper said.
