Dan Abbott said deciding to volunteer to deliver Meals on Wheels for the past 10 years was a selfish choice.

“I get a great deal of satisfaction from contact with people and the sense that I make a difference in peoples’ lives,” said Abbott, 76, of Bridgton. He started delivering meals after he retired in 1997 from teaching in the music department at Tufts University. “Something like this keeps your world wide open,” Abbott said.

Abbott picks up the meals three days a week from the United Methodist Church in Naples. This week his Wednesday route was eliminated, and Abbott said he’s not sure if he’ll pick up another day or go down to two days a week.

“Unfortunately it’s come to this,” said Cheryl Cronin, coordinator of the Naples-based branch of Meals on Wheels, of the move from five days a week to four. While Cronin said the reduction was due to a tight budget and rising costs at the Southern Maine Agency on Aging, Director of Public Relations for the agency Eileen Whynot said the change was due to lack of volunteers at the Naples site.

On Tuesdays volunteers will now drop off a hot meal and a frozen one for Wednesday. Cronin and her volunteers deliver 27 meals a day in Bridgton, Harrison, Casco, Naples and Sebago.

“This is a test pilot experiment in Naples because we didn’t have enough volunteers,” said Whynot, adding that this is the first site in York and Cumberland Counties to cut back in the more than 30 years the agency has been administering the Meals on Wheels program.

Lois Fitch is one of the seniors on Abbott’s regular route. Her daughter Claudia Fitch stays with her part of the time, and she also has a caretaker. “It’s a big help,” said Claudia Fitch, adding that it takes pressure off the caretaker to have a hot meal delivered.

“I’ve enjoyed them very much,” said Lois Fitch, as she sat in a wheelchair at a small table awaiting her meal.

Abbott said delivering a meal “strikes right to the heart of what is essential to life,” while also agreeing with Whynot and Cronin that the human contact between volunteers and seniors is an important aspect of the program. For some, it is the only visit they will receive in a day.

Meals on Wheels provides hot lunches to seniors who can no longer cook for themselves. Some use the service temporarily while recovering from an injury or illness while others receive meals for many years. While the lower age limit is 60 years old, individuals can receive the service at a younger age if they are disabled.

“It allows seniors to remain in their homes and get a good meal,” said Virginia Billings, coordinator of the Windham-based branch of Meals on Wheels.

Volunteers who pick up in Windham deliver around 27 meals a day to seniors living in Windham, Gorham, Standish, Raymond, Gray, New Gloucester and Cumberland. Billings said she has enough volunteer drivers, but wishes more seniors would sign up to the program.

Billings said they recently consolidated their routes from four to three to lower mileage, which the Southern Maine Agency on Aging reimburses drivers at 42 cents per mile, an increase from 40 cents per mile starting July 1.

Whynot said the agency on aging is funded by federal and state sources, as well as through donations and events. Each meal costs $6.88 to deliver, with $3.50 of this amount covering the food and the remaining $3.38 covering transportation, paid staff, utilities and other expenses. The cost of the food itself has risen by 50 cents since September 2006.

Whynot said she has seen volunteers who were claiming a mileage reimbursement stop delivering or cut back as the money they receive covers gas but not wear and tear on their cars.

“Our goal is to help people stay independent,” said Whynot. As individuals lose the ability to prepare their own meals, Whynot said, they often compromise on what they eat and sacrifice nutrition. “We want more people to sign up for Meals on Wheels,” Whynot said, adding that participation is dropping.

Joan Emerson, of Bridgton, also a regular on Abbott’s route, said she can’t see well enough to prepare her own meals. “It’s a good program,” Emerson said.

Bridgton resident Sophie Yindra said she first signed up for Meals on Wheels after she had a stroke around five years ago because her family wanted somebody to check on her every day. She said a Meals on Wheels driver called her daughter-in-law once because her door was locked. “That’s one of the services that’s wonderful,” Yindra said.

Abbott said he has seen Yindra recover from her stroke. At first she wouldn’t get out of her chair, Abbott said, but she now gets up to talk with him and show off the sweaters she is knitting for the mentally disabled.

Other charities reported mixed effects of high food and fuel costs. At the Casco Alliance Church Food Pantry, Pamela Grassius said volunteers and donations are staying strong, but they may be seeing an increase in the demand for food. While typically fewer families come to the food pantry in the summer, Grassius said this summer numbers have remained constant.

The Standish Connection Food Pantry is also seeing increased demand for help, said Chris LaPointe.

Madeline Roberts of the Windham Food Pantry said she has seen an increased number of families needing help. “We are seeing a lot more new families,” Roberts said, attributing the increase to people getting laid off as well as high costs for food and gas. Roberts said she is keeping up with demand through fundraisers, donations and contributions from the town. “The community is very supportive,” Roberts said.

For his last visit of the day, Abbott pulled into a driveway where Robert Capra sat in a lawn chair waiting for him. Capra, who lives alone on the town line between Bridgton and Denmark, joked with Abbott.

“Wanna share?” Capra joked. “When do you eat?”

Meals on Wheels volunteer Dan Abbott delivers a warm lunch to Robert Capra, who lives alone in Denmark. Rising costs slow Meals on Wheels