Retired Ventnor Police Officer Ed Davis is a volunteer driver for the Senior Transportation Service.
Ventnor Senior Transportation Services is seeking volunteer drivers to help senior citizens obtain rides to medical medical appointments and shopping.
“Right now, we have two drivers and they sometimes have to double up and work more than one day,” volunteer coordinator Linda Kaplan said. “If we don’t have a driver, we cannot provide the service and have to tell our senior residents to call the county to access its service.”
Some of the regular drivers have headed to Florida for the winter and won’t return until the weather warms, she said.
In October, the city accepted from Atlantic County government the transfer of title and possession of an eight-seat Ford StarTrans vehicle no longer needed for county purposes.
Before the city obtained the small passenger van, it borrowed a bus from the county on a monthly basis.
“Sometimes it was an eight-seater, other times a 12-seater. We got whatever was available,” Kaplan said.
Although the recent acquisition is a used vehicle, the city has enlisted the help of grant writer James Rutala of Rutala Associates, LLC of Linwood to apply for funding to purchase a new bus.
“The funding is available, so we may as well apply for it now,” Kaplan said.
The used eight-seater is in good condition and has 58,000 miles on it, she said.
The service helps three to nine senior citizens get to their doctor appointments and shopping every weekday morning.
Anyone interested in being a driver is asked to volunteer one morning per week from 8:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. The volunteers work out of the Ventnor Community Building on Newport Avenue behind the library. A CDL (Commercial Driver’s License) is not required.
Contact Linda Kaplan at 609-823-7994 to volunteer.
