Olympic officials are "scrambling to fill holes" after about 30% of the Rio Games' 50,000 volunteers "aren't showing up," according to Kim Brunhuber of CBC.ca. Volunteer Luis Moreira said many "had to quit because they had to work two weeks in a row [and] schedules were messed up." He said, "Lots of people quit because of the food: they were told to work eight, nine hours and were only provided with a little snack." Brunhuber notes the IOC has made more than $5.6B in the last four years, but the organization claims paying volunteers "is against the spirit of the Games." IOC Dir of Communications Mark Adams said, "Volunteers are the backbone of the Games. We could do it a different way. But I think volunteers are something we really do appreciate." ROCOG Exec Dir of Communications Mario Andrada said that they are "trying to fix the problems." He said, "We've got a task force we are working on for volunteers, and in the same way we are now fully focused to fine-tune the volunteer programs" (CBC.ca, 8/16). In S.F., Katie Dowd noted the IOC "has long relied on volunteers to put on the Olympics." The contingent in Rio are aiding in "helping tourists, chauffeuring officials and athletes and otherwise keeping the events running smoothly" (SFGATE.com, 8/16). In N.Y., Tobias Salinger notes the volunteer plans "showed significant flaws right from the start," as they have to "pay their own way to Rio." Several volunteers said that they "didn’t even know when they were supposed to report there" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 8/17).
