October is Community Support Month in Ontario – a time to celebrate and acknowledge our staff and volunteers who provide support to vulnerable members of their communities every day.
Several times a week, Bill Beattie gets behind the wheel of a vehicle and heads out on the highway from Sarnia, ON to various destinations in Southwestern Ontario. Most of the time, it’s 45 minutes away to London, but other times, it can be as far away as Toronto. Each trip has one thing in common: a special passenger accompanies him - a Red Cross client.
Bill is a transportation services volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross, Sarnia branch. He started volunteering after he retired (he taught high school French and German for 29 years) and has been involved with the program for the past six years.
“I like driving, I like meeting people. I think there is a need for this service,” he says.
October 24 is Transportation Service Day in Ontario. The program provides frail, ill or elderly members of the community with rides to medical appointments and is available at many Red Cross branches across the province. The program is made possible because of the support and dedication of volunteers, like Bill. Last year, volunteers provided 233,283 rides to clients.
Bill admitted that his volunteer shifts can be long - up to 10 to 12 hours – because he not only drives his clients to their appointments, but waits for them, and then drives them home. However, he cherishes those long days because they give him an opportunity to get to know his clients better; he has much admiration for them.
“Certainly, there are people who suffer a great deal and do it with dignity and strength,” he says. “I drive some people to dialysis treatments three-days-a-week. I shake my head at the fortitude they show.”
To learn more about the transportation program, and how to get involved as a volunteer, contact your local branch.