Pink Cars help seniors get their COVID-19 vaccinations

March 18, 2021 · 0 Comments

Small ripples can make big waves, as Shanta Sundarason and her team of volunteers know all too well. From sewing personal protective equipment (PPE) to driving seniors to vaccine appointments, the group has been busy since the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic last March.

“When COVID-19 hit, there was a huge shortage of PPE. I started a group called We Care – York Region. I used my community connections to mobilize volunteers to sew PPE items to donate to those that were in need, to find donors of fabric as well as delivery and collection drivers. We have sewn and donated over 50,000 PPE items in York Region and beyond since March last year,” said Sundarason.

As the need for PPEs eased up, and vaccines were rolled out, Sundarason and her team came up with a new mission.

“When it was announced that bookings for the vaccine was going to be done online only, I had several seniors reach out to me the weekend before to ask if someone could help them as they were not tech savvy or did not have a computer,” said Sundarason. “They were also concerned about getting to the site for the vaccine. I knew then that there was going to be a huge need and I jumped into action.”

Sundarason had to act fast. She called a family meeting, decided on a name, bought a domain and found a friend to build the website for her. Pinkcars.ca came into fruition over a weekend, and Sundarason had already found her first four volunteers.

“With the help of volunteers, we are up and running and ready to continue our give-back mission. Our core team includes Neha Banerjea, Marketing and Communications advisor and a final-year business student at Western University, long term volunteers Enid Reyes-Martin and Chean Chen and our ‘everything else’ advisor Andrew Keyes (Ward 5 Councillor, City of Markham). We have about 30 volunteers and have driven about 40 seniors and booked over 300 appointments so far,” said Sundarason.

The team at Pink Cars hopes to keep going until the vaccine rollout reaches the 65-plus age range. “I am sure it will calm down once we have helped seniors who are 70 and over. The others are still young pups and capable of booking themselves, but we will help anyone in need,” said Sundarason.

Pink Cars is always looking for additional volunteer drivers to help ferry seniors in need, to and from their appointment. For more information, contact Shanta Sundarason at 647-389-8828 or visit pinkcars.ca.

By Kinjal Dagli Shah