Community Care Peterborough, which provides services to seniors and adults with physical challenges, is looking for reliable and caring volunteer drivers to help clients get to appointments or activities.
“As the province reopens, we know the demand for driving to in-person appointments will also increase,” says Alicia Vandine, donor relations and communications lead with Community Care Peterborough. in a media release. “Our clients have been managing with virtual appointments but they too are anxiously awaiting for other in-person care services to open up as well.”
Among other trips, volunteers can drive clients to a medical appointment, a local grocery store, or even a hair salon (when they can open again). Volunteer drivers can choose to drive clients short distances in the Peterborough area or long distances to medical appointments in Toronto, Oshawa, and Kingston.
“The volunteer driver commitment involves picking up a client and dropping them off at their appointment or activity and then later, picking up the same client and returning them to their home,” says Darci Maude, volunteer development coordinator with Community Care Peterborough. “Volunteer drivers receive some reimbursement which is paid to them by the client to help offset the cost of gas and wear and tear on their vehicle.”
Community Care Peterborough is looking for volunteer drivers who live across the city and county of Peterborough. The not-for-profit organization’s local offices — in Apsley, Buckhorn, Chemung, Havelock, Lakefiled, Millbrook, Norwood, and Peterborough — organize each drive, and volunteers can choose which locations for which they want to drive.
Drives are scheduled around each volunteer’s availability. Clients being driven by volunteers must be able to get in and out of a conventional vehicle safely and independently.
“When you volunteer to be a driver, you will be helping people in your local community,” Maude says. “We can only do as many drives for clients as we have drivers. Volunteers are crucial for this program to meet the needs of clients.”
For more information about Community Care Peterborough, volunteering, and to contact a local office, visit www.commcareptbo.org.
