From Tacoma, Washington: "With bus service slashed, faithful 40 drive to rescue," by Kathleen Merryman for the Tacoma Tribune

This story originally appeared on the Tacoma Tribune website at this address: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/08/24/1793449/with-bus-service-slashed-faithful.html. This link no longer exists. A copy of the original story appears below.


Forty people who don’t even ride the bus are feeling about as much pressure as they can handle from Pierce Transit’s route cuts and service reductions.

These Volunteer Chore Services drivers are close to their limit and looking for 40 more volunteers to meet a demand that has doubled in the past year. They drive seniors and disabled people to the doctor, pharmacy, supermarket and food bank.

If you should find yourself in the grocery line or a dentist’s waiting room with one of them, don’t be surprised if they invite you to join them on the road. I wasn’t surprised when Gerry Gregory gave me the soft sell on the volunteer gig during our phone interview.

He sees the good it does for others and feels the good it does for him.

“I retired at 62,” the former Fife contractor said. “I just laid around the house piddling around and reading. It got boring. Actually, it got tiring. So I Googled ‘volunteering,’ and up came ‘Catholic Community Services,’ and it sounded like something I’d like to do. I’ve been happy ever since.”

Happy, and proud of his wheels: a white 2008 Toyota Tacoma pickup.

“I have a couple of clients who like to insist on me, because it’s the best ride they have,” he said.

Gregory signed up to give one free ride to someone two days a week, but demand has doubled in the past year. Now he’s driving five days a week and recently gave eight rides.

If you’re a taxpayer, tip your hat to him and his fellow volunteers. They’re saving you a bundle.

The trips they make are just enough to keep their passengers living independently. Without it, they would topple into assisted living or nursing homes.

“It costs the state a lot more money if they have to pay for the nursing homes. That’s where we come in,” said Jodie Moody, the program and transportation coordinator.

State transportation money has helped pay for the program for 25 years and includes funding for 25 new volunteers a year. This year, it will pay for even more – and Moody needs them. Last year, her volunteers logged about 400 hours and 5,000 miles a month. This year, they’re up to about 800 hours and 11,000 miles.

“We have approximately 300 clients,” Moody said. “A year ago we had 150.”

Some came because of the Pierce Transit route cuts that have followed a reduction in sales tax revenue, an explosion at a fueling station and voters’ rejection of a bond measure in February.

More cuts will come in October, when shuttle service ends for disabled residents in parts of East Pierce County.

Volunteers must be age 21 or older, pass a state background check and have three good references, a car, insurance and a good driving record.

They can drive as little as one three-hour trip a week, or they can aspire to be Gerry Gregory.

There are benefits, including the 50.5-cent-a-mile reimbursement, quarterly training sessions, cool logo jackets and the occasional free gas card, oil change or car wash.

Then there are the stories.

“Ask them a basic question, like, ‘Are you from this area?’ and that just opens up the world,” said Gene Gregory, who is not related to Gerry.

Gene Gregory savored good stories throughout his international career with the Central Intelligence Agency. After he and his wife moved to Tacoma five years ago, she brought home a brochure from St. Ann’s Catholic Church, and he signed up to drive.

He’s sat in food bank lines with his clients or taken them through all the doctors managing their health care crises.

One of his favorite riders was a former Pierce Transit bus driver whose lungs were failing.

“That lady had the best attitude of anybody I’ve ever met,” he said. “She was a real inspiration.”

She still is. She received a lung transplant, healed and has gone back to work driving Pierce Transit buses.

Gene Gregory keeps an eye out for her when he’s on the road, one of the faithful 40.