(Spirit Lake)– A volunteer program in Dickinson county that utilizes people who are of retirement age will cease to exist as it is currently known at the end of June.
Christina Ostovic oversees the RSVP, or Retired Senior Volunteer Program in Dickinson county. She told the Dickinson county board of supervisors Tuesday federal funding for the program has been cut nearly in half. As a result, she says the RSVP program, which currently serves the five-county area served by Iowa Lakes Community College, is being reduced to three counties. Dickinson and Palo Alto counties are the two counties where the RSVP program will no longer exist.
As far as Dickinson county is concerned, Ostovic is hopeful they’ll be able to continue the services that were offered by the RSVP program through the Voluntary Action Center. But she says it’s going to take additional funding locally in order for that to happen. Ostovic is requesting the county increase the amount of funding it allocates to the center each year.
The supervisors Tuesday took no action on Ostovic’s request, saying they want to see how the county ends the current fiscal year.
