Snowbirds leave, so do volunteers

By Mike Trask (contact)

Saturday, May 26, 2007 | 7:09 a.m.

Russ Way knows the hit is coming each year in the weeks following Easter. But there's nothing he can do but brace himself.

The snowbirds will skip town, flying or driving north and east and west.

"It is a unique phenomenon and it happens every year," said Way, executive director of the Boulder City Senior Center. "It's standard migrating patterns."

For the uninformed, Boulder City's snowbirds are the residents, usually elderly, who live in the city only part of the year. They come from harsher climates to enjoy the beautiful desert winter. In the late spring, as the valley's temperatures begin climbing into triple digits, they return to their other homes.

Their departure leaves a dearth of spring and summer volunteers at the senior center. Typically, Way has about 75 volunteers he can count on to cook, deliver Meals on Wheels and track the use of the center.

But he routinely loses about 30 during the summer.

"As soon as the weather gets warmer they take off for Michigan or Minnesota or wherever they go," he said.

It's impossible to say how many people leave Boulder City for the summer, because the city does not track the snowbirds.

Various sources offer only a hint at the number who leave town as temperatures soar.

In the April primary, 373 residents voted with absentee ballots. But the election fell during spring break for local schools, when many people travel.

Rose Ann Miele, a city spokeswoman who used to run a bakery in town, guessed that 15 percent to 25 percent of the city's 15,000 residents leave when the weather heats up. But others believe as much as one-third of the town escapes for the summer.

Local charity Lend a Hand also shoulders the burden of a decreased volunteer crop. Already the group, which focuses on driving seniors to medical appointments in Las Vegas, has lost 10 workers, office manager Anita Greeley said.

The group counters by trying to help seniors schedule appointments on only one day each week and trying to get drivers to pull double duty. When all else fails, one of the office workers makes the trip.

Way ramps up his recruiting with summer on the horizon, advertising in the local newspaper and mailing a newsletter to residents.

Eventually, the work at the nonprofit groups gets done, albeit with more stress and logistical headaches than when the snowbirds are around.

At least there's one positive.

The thing about snowbirds is they always return in September.