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Posted by: Shannon_Lacroix on 10/21/2008 01:23 PM
Updated by: furlong on 10/21/2008 01:23 PM
Expires: 01/01/2013 12:00 AM

RideShare makes the road of life easier for families

Rose Bos (Left) pays for food while Anneli Mattinen hands the food to Cameron Burke who packs it.

The RideShare program helps low-income familes in need and changes lives of people who use it, volunteer for it and even who work for it.

By Shannon Lacroix
theclaw.ca

Rose Bos is barely getting by, but you’d never know it just listening to her.

A bubbly woman who’s friendly and light-hearted, it’s hard to imagine her scurrying to get by every month with an eight-year-old son, Teddy, and an 18-year-old daughter, Michelle (who’s not living at home). Bos uses a local program that makes getting through the day easier for her, which is something she clearly needs. The program is called RideShare, which was born out of an idea from the North Bay Social Planning Council (SPC). It provides cheap transportation for families who can’t afford to spend their money on a taxi or the bus because they wouldn’t have enough money for food or rent. Just trying to get around the city would ‘waste’ most of their day.

Bos estimates taking the bus amounts to two to two-and-a-half hours just to get groceries, for example. However, having more free time isn’t the reason she started using RideShare.

‘‘I haven’t convinced my son to give up food,’’ Bos joked.

The actual reason: she couldn’t afford to pay for a taxi to go to the grocery store every week; even taking the bus could be too costly at $2.25 for fare. That’s where RideShare comes in; at a mere $2 for a round trip it saves her both time and money.

‘‘I get to spend [the money I would normally spend on cabs] on food instead,’’ Bos explained outlining another advantage to the program.

She started to use Rideshare in June after she heard about it from Algonquin Family Services and WrapAround Nipissing, a program that looks at youth and family issues (e.g.: education, health) and tries to find ways to help them. Since then she’s become a ‘regular,’ usually getting a ride every Wednesday, unless she has an appointment, in which case she’ll use it twice a week. She has the same driver every week, Cameron Burke.

Since Burke is her regular driver, their comfort level is obvious as they joke around in the car and chat about each other’s lives. Burke, who’s been involved with the RideShare program since January, said he actually started to volunteer because he was unemployed and looking for something to keep himself busy.

‘‘It’s good to be useful, seeing my time well spent,’’ Burke explained.

Bos, on the other hand, thought he left out an important part of the motivation.

‘‘And he sees me every week,’’ she added jokingly. That got them both laughing.

Burke sometimes finds it difficult when it comes to gas; he gets reimbursed just 30 cents per kilometre. Bos agreed it isn’t a good deal financially for drivers. Covering the costs for the drivers would be her top priority, Bos said, if she was in charge of the program.

Unfortunately, the money to ‘pay’ the drivers comes entirely from fundraising, something that Tawnia Robinson, RideShare coordinator, is trying to improve by getting the word out and trying different money-making ideas such as raffles. The program currently helps 15 families with its five volunteers. The plan is to expand the project which has a diverse client family base to 75.

‘‘There are families with a single parent, two parents and the working poor. It’s not just people on Ontario Works or disability,’’ Robinson said refuting the preconceived notions people who don’t know the program often have.

The initial idea for developing programs to help stemmed from one question.

‘‘We know poverty exists; what can we do to make it easier?’’ Robinson said.

Families were contacted and identified areas they had difficulty with. Among them were: housing, transportation, and food security (basically, having food to eat). Once those areas were identified, action plans were drawn up, and a forum of low-income families and service providers voted on the action plan for a transportation program.

The program helps Bos, Burke and even Robinson.

‘‘The person who thought of RideShare is a genius,’’ Bos said to express her gratitude for something that’s helping her survive.

‘‘It helped me to remember to be thankful for what I got,’’ Burke said of the way this program has changed him.

‘‘I got to meet a big group of caring people in the community,’’ Robinson said as she explained her favorite part of the job.

She is working on getting more people aware of the program and trying to get more funding in order to expand RideShare to help all of the families who need it.