Emilee Prado
In a world of balancing work, family and extracurricular activities, lending a helping hand can often fall to the wayside. For those who have an interest in giving back but have full plates, Southlake has an array of nonprofits that are in need of volunteers with just a few spare minutes in their schedules.
One of them, Call A Ride Southlake, has spent the last 20 years ensuring seniors get to where they need to be. Executive director Erik Phelps says that while there are more ride-sharing options today than when the program started, the nonprofit does more than provide free transportation. It provides a connection for those who need to be seen.
IT ALL STARTED IN… 2000. Other Southlake seniors and retirees were looking around and seeing that some of their friends weren’t showing up like they used to. Call A Ride Southlake (CARS) was created to lessen the feelings of isolation seniors feel when they no longer drive. As you can imagine, you may have been on the planet for 70 years, but now your kids have to say you have to give up the car keys. While they may still be in Southlake, their kids don’t have the time to take these seniors where they may want to go when they want to go.
THESE SENIORS… don’t have that autonomy any more to say, ‘I’m going to get up and go to the senior center.’ When you are isolated, even if you are isolated in a beautiful house, you are still lonely. By providing those rides to the senior center to get your hair done or for even medical appointments, it allows them to maintain a certain level of connection.
MOST PEOPLE WHO… find us, whether it is from the volunteer side or the client side, say, ‘I never knew you guys existed.’ You don’t know we exist until you need us.
NOW THERE ARE MORE… options for transportation. There’s Uber, Lyft and those types of things, but seniors in many instances are somewhat shy about using those car services, whether it’s just because of a lack of knowledge, a lack of trust or a lack of awareness. We have a nonprofit staffed with volunteer drivers who have already been background checked, who are local and whom they may see on a weekly or monthly basis. So we have that warm experience. We are a completely different animal. It’s a different level of comfort, familiarity and safety.
VOLUNTEERS ARE… the gasoline in CARS’ engine. Without volunteers, Call A Ride Southlake does not operate. We have some volunteers that have been here for more than a decade and have driven the same people for more than a decade. Every one of my volunteers is like gold to me.
LAST YEAR… we provided over 1,700 one-way rides, driving more than 11,000 miles. All that was with 24 drivers. We desperately need more volunteers so that we can meet all the unmet demands for the rides we currently have. Many years we have to turn away 100, 200, 300 ride requests just because we don’t have drivers available.
THE AMOUNT OF TIME… our volunteers give varies. There are people who will do five different trips in a week, but those five are right here in Southlake, so it’s probably 10 minutes each. So every week it’s maybe an hour’s time, but they are helping five people. And our volunteers can do this while they are doing something else anyway, so it’s pretty convenient. When you are on the way to work, you might be able to drop someone off at the senior center. When you are on the way to shopping, you might be able to drop someone off at a doctor’s appointment. It can all be done when it’s convenient for the volunteer.
ONCE OUR VOLUNTEERS… get started and they get to know these individuals, they say ‘Wow!’ Our drivers start out by giving a neighbor a lift and potentially lifting that person’s spirit. But, by the end, they have lifted their own spirits based on the camaraderie.
I THINK A LOT OF US… are guilty of walking down the street and seeing a senior citizen and just looking at the physical shell. You see the walker; you see the cane; you see the wrinkles on the face. But what you don’t see is what is inside of that shell. There is so much that’s happening underneath that surface that if you uncover, you can learn what kind of connection you could form or bridge. There are a number of charities and efforts for the young, but there are few in this area that focus on this demographic. And we are all going to get there if we live long enough. I am selfishly doing this because I want this to be around when I need the service in 20 years. And I want to help all the people in between.