New Angel Bus at a good price will be a reality
WESTERN MANITOULIN—Thanks to the generosity of the local community, a new vehicle will be purchased to provide accessible transportation to seniors on Western Manitoulin. While the current Angel Bus is still operational, its operations committee has been fundraising for a newer model that they had planned to purchase in 2024. However, they had the opportunity on an appropriate vehicle to purchase at a preferred price but only had a few days to reach the fundraising goal of $30,000 through crowd sourcing and the generosity of local residents.
Sandy Cook, of the Angel Bus committee told The Expositor Monday morning. “We did it! We raised the $30,000 thanks to the unbelievable generosity of the community. Isn’t that incredible? It is just wonderful how much people on the Island are in support of this demographic. It’s so humbling.”
Ms. Cook explained last Thursday, “its crazy how these things happen. We were prepared to purchase a new bus in 2024. Yes, the current bus is doing okay, it is still operating, although we have it in the (repair) shop a lot (18 times in the past year, mostly for a lift issue).”
“Then all of a sudden, we got this great deal on a newer model from Move Mobility. Move Mobility is based in Brampton and Winnipeg. A representative of the company was in Wiikwemkoong recently and he talked to us about a vehicle they have for sale.”
Ms. Cook noted a new accessible bus would have cost $170,000, but Move Mobility has this demo 2020 Ford transit van with four chairs and two wheelchair spaces available, with only 8,000 kilometres of mileage. “It is available for $140,000.00,” she said last week. She explained that originally Move Mobility requested an answer from the Angel Bus committee on their interest in purchasing the bus by this past Friday, January 27, but extended it until the end of January. The committee had already accumulated $80,000 in fundraising toward a new bus.
On Monday, January 23, two separate $15,000 donations were made by the Douglas A. Smith Family Foundation, and Manitoulin Transport bringing the total up to $110,000 toward the purchase of the bus.
“So we still had to raise $30,000,” said Ms. Cook last Thursday. The committee raised the additional money through crowd sourcing.
