{"id":23760,"date":"2019-05-09T19:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T23:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=23760"},"modified":"2019-05-10T18:32:13","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T22:32:13","slug":"faced-with-funding-shortage-senior-driving-service-seeks-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/faced-with-funding-shortage-senior-driving-service-seeks-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Faced with funding shortage, senior driving service seeks support"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faced with a future\nfunding shortage, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing safe and\naffordable transportation for seniors in York Region is looking for support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For over 30 years, the Sutton-based Routes Connecting Communities\norganization has been helping people get where they need to go, improving\naccess to both basic needs and special destinations, including here in Aurora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partially funded by the Aurora-based CHATS (Community & Home\nAssistance to Seniors), Routes also receives funding from the Region of York\nand the Ontario Trillium Foundation. With the latter two funding sources set to\ndry up at the end of this year, as well as just one volunteer driver serving\nthe Aurora area, Routes is looking for some help to keep the community moving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have been around for 30 years and we provide timely, safe and\naffordable transportation, as well as a caring conversation along the way,\u201d\nsaid Danielle Koren, Executive Director of Routes. \u201cOur volunteer drivers use\ntheir own personal vehicles to take our clients to destinations within, as well\nas outside York Region for medical, social, banking or recreational purposes\nand activities of daily living requirements. We also offer bus trips to\nshopping centres, local special events and attractions, and these trips are\naimed at reducing social isolation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, Routes carried out more than 15,135 rides for 7,283 riders.\nThey saw a 38 per cent growth in their service, provided by just 43 volunteer\ndrivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Routes, a client can reimburse a driver for their mileage (set at\n47 cents per kilometre) or their office can bill a third-party organization\nlike ODSP or an insurance company for their cost. Clients can also apply for\nfee subsidy assistance if they are truly low income. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to this, Routes provides free rides to food pantries and\ncommunity meal programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe believe that if people don\u2019t have the funds to buy food, they don\u2019t\nhave the funds to get to the food,\u201d said Ms. Koren. \u201cWe actually do some rides\nfor the Aurora Food Pantry and it is all free of charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur clients are our neighbours. They are experiencing social, physical,\nmental and\/or financial barriers to timely, safe and compassionate\ntransportation. Those people cannot take YRT for whatever reason and they\ncannot afford a regular taxi service. Although most of our clients live in\nGeorgina because it is the most rural municipality (in York Region), we also\nhave clients in Aurora.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With their funding from the Region and Trillium set to come to a close,\nMs. Koren said Routes is currently looking at opportunities for outreach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They will have a presence at the June 2 Aurora Chamber Street Festival,\nfor instance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are also looking for organizations to partner with and even\ncorporate connections for businesses that might be interested in sponsoring\nrides to food pantries or additional rides for low income residents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost importantly, we\u2019re looking at volunteer drivers,\u201d she said. \u201cRight\nnow, we have one volunteer driver in Aurora and we need more. Maybe there are\nrealtors who are looking for opportunities to give back to their community and\nthey may be willing to sponsor rides.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on Routes Connecting Communities, how to become a client, volunteer as a driver, or provide support or sponsorship to the program, visit routescc.org, email info@routescc.org, or call 905-722-4616.<\/em><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faced with a future funding shortage, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing safe and affordable transportation for seniors in York Region is looking for support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6be","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-14 13:36:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}