Driving service for seniors gets a lift

A volunteer-run driving service for low-income seniors got the push it needs from committee Wednesday to get funding that will allow it to stay afloat while it figures out how to be permanently sustainable.

The community and public services committee voted to recommend city council use $180,000 from its contingency fund to help Drive Happiness keep operating.

“That will allow us to continue our current level of service, and hopefully expand and continue helping more seniors in Edmonton,” said Drive Happiness executive director Shannon Gill.

Drive Happiness is a low-cost ride service for seniors: 92 volunteer drivers give rides to seniors for $10 a trip. Of that, $8 goes to the driver to cover the cost of gas. The organization works out of a small space it rents in a church, and three of its five staff are part-time.

Gill said they give about 18,000 rides annually to about 700 low-income seniors, and that demand is increasing. They have wait-lists of prospective clients in both the north and west ends, and are actively recruiting more volunteer drivers.

Much of the group’s funding came from a federal grant that’s expiring this year. Gill said the hope is that Drive Happiness can come up with a model of diverse funding sources, so that in the future if a grant dries up, they won’t be in the bind they’re in now.

Committee heard pleas from both volunteer drivers and their clients, who shared stories about how essential the service has become. One octogenarian described how her driver helped her when she went into diabetic shock during a trip. Drivers talked about chatting with seniors who haven’t had anybody to talk to for days when they climb into the vehicle, and told the committee they drive people to everything from social engagements to life-saving dialysis appointments.

Ward 1 Coun. Andrew Knack has advocated for the one-time funding for Drive Happiness to ensure it continues its operations both in the short- and long-term. He did agree that there should be a discussion with the province about if this issue falls into its bailiwick as a health and social services.

“There’s partial provincial responsibility but it’s not exclusively on them, either. Our transit service, that’s under the municipal role, and these are people who for any number of reasons can’t use our transit system,” Knack said.