Bella Vista Courtesy Van Needs Your Participation
The Bella Vista Courtesy Van provides free transportation for Bella Vistans who can no longer drive due to age and/or health. We provide about 4,500 rides per year, and the BVCV vans are driven about 40,000 miles in doing so. Many members of St. Theodore's parish have relied on this important service.
There will always be a need for volunteers in all areas to continue with this much needed service. If you would like to volunteer, contact Becky Fox or Bill Johnson.
St. Theodore's church has been involved with the BVCV from the latter's inception. One of our members was on the organizing Board, and Bill Johnson was president for eight years Chan Hatcher for two years. The church has provided an outreach-operating grant to BVCV every year. Thus, St. Theodore's has a vested interest in the continuing welfare of BVCV. That welfare depends on money (it is adequately financed) and volunteers.
First, we are seeking persons who would be interested in serving on the Board of Directors and participating in the overall direction of BVCV. At present Becky Fox and Bill Johnson are Board members. The Board meets every other month, and individual Board members have specific roles to fill.
Second, we are seeking persons to be rider schedulers. A scheduler spends about one hour or less in the morning (usually 7:30 a.m. - 8:15 a.m.) taking request-for-ride messages off the answering machine, transferring the information to rider cards, and helping to organize the rider pick-ups for the day. Schedulers work at most once a week but less frequently if desired. Schedules are flexible.
Third, we are seeking additional drivers. At present we have 38 drivers who cover 44 driving slots per month. Driver schedules are arranged a month in advance to fit your availability. We hope most drivers will be able to drive twice a month, although some do more and some do less. Participating in operating the BVCV program, which relies solely on volunteers, is a very rewarding experience, which meets a real need in our community.
Contact any of the St. Theodore's members mentioned above (they are in the church directory) for more information. Won't you help in this worthwhile program? It gives you a good feeling, and it really helps your neighbor.
Remember the second of the summary commandments we hear every Sunday morning
"love your neighbor as yourself."
Project Lifesaver - Volunteers Needed
St. Theodore’s is continuing to lend administrative support to the program known as Project Lifesaver of Benton County. This is a program whereby individuals who are at risk for wandering from their homes and becoming lost or disoriented are fitted with a bracelet containing a transmitter that can be tracked by the Benton County Sheriff’s Office and the Bella Vista Police Department. Those eligible for the program are adults with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia and children or adults with autism or Down Syndrome.
Each client is matched with a volunteer whose job it is to go to the client’s residence once each month to check that the caregiver is monitoring the transmitter daily, note any changes in the condition or situation of the client, and to change the battery in the transmitter bracelet. In most cases, a volunteer will be assigned just one client to work with, and the assignments will be made based on the proximity of the client’s residence to the volunteer’s home. All clients are residents of Benton County.
If you would like to find out more about being a volunteer, please contact Lana McDonald. We will be arranging informational meetings and training sessions for volunteers soon.
