Hamilton to spend $120K to save volunteer snow shoveling program

Hamilton’s volunteer snow-shoveling program will be around for at least another year now that the city is spending about $120,000 to top it up.

A city committee voted Monday that taxpayers will top up the Snow Angels program, which matches volunteer snow shovelers with elderly and disabled residents who can’t clear their own walkways.

In past years, there haven’t been enough volunteer snow shovelers to meet demand. The city will pay a third-party contractor $120,000 to serve unmatched property owners.

It’s likely a temporary fix, but it will work for one more year, said Coun. Tom Jackson of Ward 6.

“It’s another step, I think progressively, in the right direction,” he said. “It’s not going to be a panacea.”

It already costs $100,000 for the city to administer the program with Volunteer Hamilton. Last year, 140 volunteers logged 2,085 hours on the program.

There were 381 residents registered and eligible for the service and only 259 were matched, leaving 122 unmatched.

As a result, there have been seniors who “haven’t been able to get out of their homes to access the community, to maybe go for that medical appointment, to see their friends,” Jackson said.

Council will discuss the program again next winter, he said, when “all options will be on the table.”

The new money, staff said, should cover all the unmatched residents.

Coun. Sam Merulla of Ward 4 liked the temporary measure too.

The program, he said, is “not a want. It’s a need.”