In winter months, seniors lack shovelers

For each of the past four winters, whenever the snow flies, KarlRohlich makes a stop or two on his way to his job as a state publicdefender in Milwaukee County to shovel snow for some elderly Milwaukeeresidents. He’s never been paid, “although once in a while they’ll throw a 12-pack at me,” he said. Rohlich is a volunteer shoveler through the Interfaith Older AdultProgram of Milwaukee County’s Good Neighbor project. The program wasstarted four years ago to help connect neighbors with seniors who needhelp year round with chores, said Renee Jaeger, public relationsdirector for Interfaith.  In its first winter, the program had 185 seniors requesting snow shoveling. Before the Dec. 1 storm, more than 400 people had signed up forhelp. But the group had fewer than half that many volunteers, she said.  “Older adults call in July” to sign up, she said. “Volunteers call the day it snows. I don’t know how to stop that.”

Source/More:  Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=695170