ONE CARE is looking for 100 volunteer drivers – could you be one of them?

In addition to reaching their fundraising to replace fleet as needed, ONE CARE Home & Community Support Services hopes to recruit several drivers.

ONE CARE offers accessible vehicles to transport seniors and adults with health challenges throughout Huron and Perth counties to ensure they make it to medical appointments, adult day programs, grocery shopping and more. Stephanie Ellens-Clark, executive director of ONE CARE, said that there’s an increasing demand for out-of-town rides to places like London and Kitchener for more specialized appointments like MRIs.

“We know that these are such important appointments that people have to get to, so we're just trying to find what's the best way to get them there,” she said. “We have our fleet and we can offer the rights, but volunteers are such a vital part of the system too.”

To meet the demand, ONE CARE is looking to recruit at least 100 volunteer drivers. The target comes from the organization losing plenty of volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizations across Canada experienced a similar drop in volunteerism.

“It's ambitious but hopefully doable to be able meet the need,” Ellens-Clarke said.

Volunteer drivers can transport ONE CARE’s clients with a flexible schedule that best meets their own needs. Drivers will also be reimbursed for kilometres driven.

The organization’s Driven to Care Campaign, with a total fundraising goal of $500,000, is raising money to purchase new accessible vehicles. ONE CARE purchased their first accessible vehicle with funds raised from their campaign. The organization added a mini van to their roster, although it’s different from the other vehicles in the fleet.

“We wanted to try to see if we could be more efficient with some of those longer trips also with the mini-van, so it’s great because we can have one individual in there and then get them to their appointments,” Ellens-Clark said. “We're really excited that the community came together to be able to support that and we're going to keep on raising funds to replace some of the other aging vehicles."

Volunteer inquiries to be a driver of one of the ONE CARE vehicles can be done via email (volunteering@onecaresupport.ca), by phone (1-877-502-8277, ask for volunteer services), or by filling out an online application by visiting http://onecaresupport.ca/volunteers.