B.C. volunteer cancer drivers near recruitment goal, but need becoming greater – BC | 24CA News
A Lower Mainland charity devoted to transporting most cancers sufferers to and from therapy says it’s on the verge of assembly a key recruitment objective.
In March, the Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society got down to deliver on 100 new drivers in 100 days saying it couldn’t sustain with demand.
The society forecast it will want to supply 29,000 journeys this 12 months, up 5 per cent from final 12 months. But society president Bob Smith mentioned they’re already on monitor to beat their very own estimate by 20 per cent.
“The growth of demand of our patients across all of the regions we’re serving, Vancouver in particular, tri-cities, is greater than we expect,” he mentioned.
But there’s good news. Since the decision went out, Smith mentioned 160 folks had reached out to use. Thirty-one of them are already on the street, with one other 67 on the best way to assembly their necessities, he mentioned.
Smith mentioned their purchasers come from all walks of life, and vary from kids to the frail or aged. What all of them have in widespread is the necessity for help.
“They have a lot on their plate with a diagnosis of cancer,” he mentioned.
“We take one of the difficult challenges off the plate. We pick them up at home, we take them to treatment, we wait for them, and we take them back home. This is a huge lift.”
Brian Watt informed Global News he grew to become a volunteer after being recognized with colon most cancers himself.
As the illness progressed, he needed to let go of different volunteer work — however came upon concerning the society and determined to assist.
“I love to drive, I love the people I get to meet, I can communicate with them fairly well, some of them want to talk about their cancer and I’m certainly willing to talk about mine, some of them just want to get there and get it over with and that’s fine too,” he mentioned.
“But they give me a lot of tremendous feedback on how strong they are and how they’re dealing with it, and I hope I give a bit of the same to them.”
While the society is optimistic about assembly its recruitment objective, Smith mentioned they’re nonetheless searching for as many volunteers as they’ll get.
Coordinating volunteer and shopper schedules is at all times tough, he mentioned, and with an getting older inhabitants the necessity for most cancers therapy is rising.
Volunteers are reimbursed 55 cents per kilometre they drive, however Smith — a volunteer driver himself — mentioned most report getting much more again than that.
“We find that drivers who volunteer get tremendous personal satisfaction from being able to help someone in need,” he mentioned.
You can discover out extra about tips on how to volunteer on the Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society webpage.
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