High gas prices affecting local non-profit serving seniors in Central Texas

Senior Access provides transportation to older adults in the Round Rock, Hutto, Pflugerville, and East Austin area.

Serita Lacasse is the executive director. 

"Gas prices have totally messed up my budget," she said.

Vans run five days a week, taking seniors to HEB and Walmart.

"We couldn't even fathom that gas prices would've been in the fours [dollars], close to fives. Our prices per month have almost doubled, each month it goes up, and it seems like January, February, we were at about $900 per month, and now we're over $2,000 per month in gas prices," Lacasse said.

They're having to make changes, like having the group stick together even if some seniors are done shopping early, so they don't have to take multiple trips back home.

For July, they have their "Fuel Our Vans" campaign and might extend it through August to raise more money.

"We're going to keep it up so we can keep the vans going, because our seniors do want to get out," Lacasse said.

Volunteers also take seniors to appointments in their own cars.

"We're really struggling on those one-on-one rides by volunteers," Lacasse said.

The non-profit hasn't had many volunteers since the pandemic, so they use rideshares sometimes. However, the cost of that has gone up too.

"Our rideshare costs were probably $1,200 a month, last month it was almost $2,700," Lacasse said.

Senior Access serves 1,300 clients, and they're booked out two months for new clients.

Lacasse says they've never had to deal with high gas prices for so long before.

They brought their first van in 2013. 

"I vividly remember buying that van and thinking, 'oh my gosh, look at the gas prices,' and thank God they went down," Lacasse said.

Now, they're hoping more people will help out.

"Our seniors are wanting to get out so much, that we're trying to not stop those trips, and get them to where they need to go," Lacasse said. 

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