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Volunteers provide tens of thousands of hours to Utah's aging services; agencies ask for capacity support
Summary
State and county aging officials told the committee volunteers deliver the bulk of Meals on Wheels and senior-center operations; state funding for volunteer mileage exists but local agencies said they need capacity-building funds to recruit and manage volunteers in smaller counties.
Officials from the Utah Division of Aging and Adult Services and Salt Lake County's aging office told the Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee that volunteerism is integral to delivering aging services across the state and asked the committee to consider how to help area agencies build volunteer capacity.
Division Director Nels Holmgren said Utah's 12 area agencies on aging reported 2,451 volunteers and about 265,000 volunteer hours statewide in the most-recent report referenced at the hearing, which the division said is equivalent to roughly 127 full-time employees. Holmgren noted that while the Older Americans Act encourages local control and volunteer engagement, the federal law does not directly fund volunteer programs; the state has provided a $121,000 annual appropriation since 2004 that is divided among the area agencies and primarily used for mileage reimbursement and volunteer support.
Salt Lake County Aging Director Paul Leggett described local operations: Salt Lake County runs 15 senior centers serving about 18,000 people a year and, per Leggett's figures, has roughly 1,200 active volunteers who together provide more than 90,000 volunteer hours annually. Volunteers play large roles in Meals on Wheels (county staff said the program delivers roughly 1,800 meals per day and volunteers handle a substantial share of deliveries), front-desk and kitchen work at senior centers, transportation and companionship programs, and the long-term-care ombudsman program.
Smaller area agencies, Holmgren and Leggett said, often lack dedicated volunteer-coordinator capacity and would benefit from state-supported capacity-building so they can recruit, train and manage volunteers safely and effectively. The division and Salt Lake County said background checks and some testing are required for certain volunteer duties, and that oversight is a workload for area-agency staff.
Why it matters: with a growing older population and relatively flat funding, volunteers substantially increase service capacity, but smaller local agencies may lack the administrative staff to recruit and supervise volunteers; the state's $121,000 annual appropriation for volunteer support is helpful but modest compared with needs.
