How Peace Serves

“Are you available to provide a ride for someone?” is a call I get sometimes from our volunteer office. It may be for a ride for a medical appointment, to be picked up after their dialysis treatment, to attend Mass, or to go shopping.  Many of us at Peace are volunteers with Faith in Action, Drive a Senior, Northwest who “drive a senior” somewhere… We help men and women who are not able to drive or should not be driving. I especially like to help people who are on kidney dialysis.

The Drive a Senior office sends out a daily email which has a list of clients who need assistance for the day, and for the coming weeks. Normally this is how I find out who needs a ride, or maybe it is a “handyman repair” request. Because I live near to Leander and more of our volunteers live in Austin, I look for people who need rides near to me; this is more convenient for me and reduces the time for other volunteers who live in Austin and would then need to drive all the way up here. We volunteers can help as often as we wish. My goal is to help at least one person each week but sometimes I provide 2-3 rides a week. 

Those we help are so grateful.  A bond of friendship develops with those we drive over and again. We save money for those seniors who have very limited income from having to hire drivers. We can’t help everyone, but one at a time Drive a Senior volunteers collectively provided 8057 rides in 2018.  About 800 requests are made each month and we on the average we fill 750 of these.  Those other 50 have to reschedule their medical appointment, go on another day or find their own way.  56 new seniors have been already added in the first quarter of 2019, so the need is ever expanding. 

Driving a senior is very satisfying. Help is needed in the office too. To help or for further information, call 512-250-5021 to contact the main office for Faith in Action – Drive a Senior Northwest.  This is faith put into action, one person at a time. 

Rodger Ericson