More money to ride
From bands to nonprofits, soaring gas prices hit hard.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
It’s gas prices, stupid. Rising, climbing, soaring — anyway you shake it the daily jump in the average price of a gallon of gas is hurting a wide segment of people in the U.S. But while it’s major industries and sport utility vehicle drivers who are capturing most of the attention when it comes to the gas-price crunch, each corner of the American lifestyle is being affected by $4-a-gallon gas and rising. Here are three examples:
Bear Colony
On a 10-day tour of the Southeast in early June, the guys in McAllen, Texas, band Dignan told their fellow tour mates Bear Colony they could save gas by driving 55 mph. And although the North Little Rock indie rock band tried driving 55, cruising 15 miles below the interstate speed limit is not a major weapon in the band’s arsenal when it comes to combating escalating gas prices.
“We’re more the 65 to 70 type of crew,” keyboardist Brooks Tipton said. “We like to try to push the Chevy to the limit.”
The “Chevy” is the band’s 1994 Chevrolet van, a white behemoth that gulps gas at the rate of 15 miles per gallon while pulling a red trailer loaded with the band’s equipment. But with gas prices hovering around $4 a gallon, emerging bands such as Bear Colony who rely upon touring to extend their fan base and generate money are searching for ways to stretch their gas dollars through better gas efficiency.
When you’re an indie band lacking major-label support and not living the tour bus-setting lifestyle of major bands, every dollar counts. Bear Colony’s recent jaunt across the Southeast averaged about 350 miles to 400 miles a day, draining about a full tank of gas out of their Chevy van each day. Purchasing gas is a whole band expense, and surging fuel prices means the band is paying about $20 more per day than last summer for gas.
The band — guitarist/vocalist Tipton, bassist David Huff, drummer Patrick Ryan and guitarist Daniel Thomas Gimlet — usually earns between $200 to $350 per show so $20 is a fast-food meal for the band.
“That’s $20 everyday that you don’t see any results from except it gets you where you’re going,” Tipton said.
The band has already learned to check tire pressure daily while on the road, but saving on gas starts before the band even hits the road.
“The best way [to combat rising gas prices] is better routing,” Ryan said. “Don’t book shows that are eight hours away [from each other].”
The band had to cancel a couple of shows with St. Louis’ Gentleman Auction House in Illinois because Bear Colony could not book shows to get them to Chicago and back to central Arkansas. But for a tour of the Carolinas and Florida in July, the band has been more economical, scheduling eight shows during a week (including a Friday night doubleheader in Brandon, Fla., and Tampa with Look Mexico).
With no sign of gas prices decreasing, the band is also exploring converting their Chevy van to biodiesel.
“A lot of our friends are going to biodiesel,” Tipton said. “You can buy these kits now to convert diesel engines to biodiesel, and I think we’re going to convert at the end of the year.”
Ozark Mission Project
Even rising gas prices cannot halt the work of the Lord, it seems.
Each summer, the Conway-based Ozark Mission Project brings together hundreds of Arkansas youths at camps across the state to assist neighbors in cleaning, repairing and painting houses in their communities.
A mission of the Arkansas Area United Methodist Church, the project offers 12 camps each year, serving towns and cities in each corner of Arkansas. Youths at the camps are divided into five- or six-member service teams and venture into the communities over the course of a week, helping the elderly and the poor perform home-improvements. Following the day’s work the youths return to camp to eat, recreate and worship.
Although the mission accepts financial and material donations, most of the campers pay for their own way, but rising gas prices have not led to a decrease in camp attendance.
“We’re still able to do everything we’ve been doing,” executive director Nancy Mulhearn said. “We encourage our churches to give the volunteers a gas stipend but if they don’t then it is coming out of the volunteer’s pockets.
“We pay our college staff for their mileage so the higher the gas prices go the more it is costing us.”
The Ozark Mission Project has already completed half of its slate of camps this summer, and Mulhearn reports attendance for July camps is on pace to equal attendance from years past.
One upcoming camp is at Cornerstone United Methodist Church in Jonesboro, where about 65 youth will camp and assist their new neighbors in the community. The 65 campers will not come just from local churches in northeast Arkansas either, but from across the state.
“More youth these days are wanting to help those in need,” Mulhearn said.
Over the course of the summer more than 650 church youth participate in the camps, improving themselves physically, socially and spiritually as they repair porches and paint houses.
But while the increase in gas prices has had a negligible affect on the project’s mission work in Arkansas, if gas prices continue to climb they could affect the project’s annual college mission trip to Rio Bravo, Mexico, where 30 college students have constructed concrete-block houses for needy families the past two years.
“It’s an extraordinary experience,” Mulhearn said. “The college-aged students get to enjoy the experience, and it is well-worth the trip.”
While no decisions have been made on the 2009 college mission trip, Mulhearn is keeping an eye on soaring gas prices while preparing to plan for the trip.
“We will have to take [gas prices] into consideration,” she said.
Meals on Wheels
Each weekday about 150 CareLink volunteers deliver more than 800 nutritious meals to homebound senior citizens in Little Rock, North Little Rock and Maumelle. But the meal-delivery service stretches beyond the food being offered; often the delivery person is the one social interaction the senior citizen will have throughout the day.
Besides their time and vehicle, each volunteer also purchases their own gas to make the deliveries, and rising gas prices are making it difficult on CareLink and its volunteers.
“It makes it hard for our deliverers,” CareLink President and CEO Elaine Eubank said. “A lot of the Meals on Wheels volunteers are older, and they are living on a fixed income since they are retired. It’s hurt with our recruitment and our retention.”
Beyond Little Rock, North Little Rock and Maumelle, CareLink relies on a web of partners to provide Meals on Wheels in six central Arkansas counties. One such partner, the Faulkner County Senior Citizen Program, recently cut back its Meals on Wheels service because of rising gas prices. The more than 280 senior citizens served in Faulkner County will be provided the same number of meals but in fewer trips, with meal delivery service only three days a week instead of five.
While CareLink has no current plans to cut back on its Meals on Wheels service, soaring gas prices will sooner or later lead to a reduction in daily meal services, Eubank said.
“We have not cut back, but it is only a matter of time,” she said. “It is clear to me that in the not-so-distant future we won’t be able to sustain our current deliveries.”
Besides the increase in gas prices hampering the volunteers, the cost of food has also risen (because of rising gas prices nationwide), meaning CareLink is paying more for their Meals on Wheels lunches.
Beyond its Meals on Wheels program, CareLink also contributes home care providers to more than 550 people in its six-county area. The providers offer individuals nonmedical assistance, including personal care, housekeeping and social interaction.
“We are having great difficulty recruiting and retaining caregivers because it cost so much to get to people’s houses,” Eubank said.
“As a provider we are being hit in a number of ways with dramatic price increases.”
The nonprofit is supported through Medicaid, and receives federal awards and state assistance, but the reimbursement level doesn’t increase as CareLink pays more for the services it provides.
The independence offered through the Meals on Wheels and home care are two programs that keep senior citizens out of nursing homes, according to Eubank, and unless CareLink and other nonprofits like it receive more government support services might be curtailed in the near future.
“We’re grateful we have a legislative session coming up next year,” Eubank said. “We’re hoping for some relief.”
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