Transportation

• Friendly, screened volunteers to share a ride and a conversation
• Escorted rides help to ensure that the client gets to and from appointments safely
• Easy to schedule with our friendly, helpful transportation coordinator
• Peace of mind for client, family and friends

Transportation services are available for clients who:
- Are unable to access public transportation because of short or long-term physical limitations (including cognitive impairments)
- Do not have friends and relatives who are available/able to provide transportation
- Require an escort

There are two types of transportation services available: escorted and agency van.

Escorted Rides

Dependable volunteers provide transportation services assisting people to and from medical appointments, banking and other essential needs.  One of our friendly, screened, trained volunteers will drive and escort you to and from appointments. Volunteers provide this service using their own vehicle. 

A volunteer will not drop off a client at any location other than their home, unless previously booked through the Transportation scheduler.

Agency Van 

Our van provides drop off and pick up transportation to medical appointments and day programs.  The van will take clients from door to door, freeing up volunteer time for clients that require escorted service. 

It is one of seven vans given to agencies in the Waterloo-Wellington LHIN.   We are actively working with our community partners to ensure this new resource means that more seniors and adults with disability have transportation available to them for medical appointments and other tasks of daily living that enable them to live with independence and dignity in their own homes.

Fee for Services:
$7.00 for all rides within the City of Kitchener
$10.00 for all rides that cross the border of Waterloo
$15.00 for all rides that go beyond Lexington Road/Columbia Street in Waterloo
$25.00 for all rides to Cambridge
$25.00 for all rides to Guelph

Please call the office for our current rates to Hamilton, London or Toronto

Bookings are taken between 8:30am and 4:00pm Monday to Friday.

We suggest a minimum of three business days notice for booking rides. However, lots of advance notice is always best to ensure that there is an available volunteer driver.

Please call the office as soon as you know of any changes/cancellations to rides so that we can inform our volunteer drivers.

Dave Krupp, Driver

Dave became involved with the organization shortly after he retired. “I was looking for something to do that was helpful to others, and not just a selfish thing,” he says. “So I looked into the work that RAISE did. Driving seemed like the perfect fit.”

Along with driving for CSC, Dave fits a number of exciting ventures into his life. He is an avid bowler, playing twice a week, as well as a golfer. He sings in both the Schneider Mill’s male chorus and his own church choir. Dave and his wife are also quite the world travellers, having journeyed to China, India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.    

Dave says driving is a great way to volunteer because it really provides a structure to your day while at the same time giving you flexibility.

“It’s not like a job...you commit to a certain time frame each week, but you can change if you need to, it still gives you that room for change.”

Dave says that he has had many memorable encounters over his years as a volunteer. He remembers driving a few people who were virtually blind and being amazed at how well they were coping. “It certainly humbles you, and makes you grateful for what you’ve got. It is rewarding because the people are always thankful for the service. It really is nice to be useful.”

Dave says that he’ll be driving for the organization “until the cars croak”. And we thank him for this!

Emilie Brown, Transportation Coordinator

Emilie Brown has been working with us for just over 15 years. She started off at RAISE Home Support as a volunteer doing shopping runs for clients. She began working part time in the office shortly after that, and before long was working full time coordinating transportation for clients. She has been the voice behind all of our rides for 12 years and counting! 

For Emilie, it is the daily interaction with clients that make the job so rich. “Often times,” she says, “the clients histories are a lot like my own. There are many clients that I’ve spoken to for years and years, some I’ve known better than my own family.”

As much as these relationships can be fulfilling, she admits that they can also be hard at times. “You see a lot of clients come and go, both physically and mentally. Sometimes this can be hard, because you remember how vibrant they once were. It just makes you realize how fine that line is between here and there.”

Emilie has her signature on the original documentation for the merger, and as such says that she feels a responsibility to make the thousands of hours of work that went into the amalgamation worthwhile.

“Since we are growing in leaps and bounds, it would be a dream come true to have enough volunteers to handle every request that came in so that I would never have to say no to anyone.”

This dedication to her clients is apparent to anyone who knows Emilie. Just ask her how she feels about CSC’s drivers and you’ll watch her eyes light up.

“I love each and every one of my drivers,” she says. “While bringing in new drivers has always been a challenging task, the ones she gets are gold. “They are always willing to help me out when I’m in dire straits, and always treat the clients with respect,” she says. “Sometimes they’ll even get a hug!”

Outside of the office, Emilie leads a very full life. She loves live theatre, reading, and traveling. She says that life has allowed her to travel outside of North America in the past few years, and she has made the most of it- traveling twice to the Caribean, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, Alaska, and every province in Canada. Her favourite thing to do is to walk alongside water barefoot- and indeed, her toes have been in the Atlantic, both sides of the Pacific, and three Great Lakes. (It was too cold for the fourth!) She is heading to Newfoundland this summer, and would someday love to go on a Baltic cruise and to see the North West Territories.

But don’t expect this friendly voice to disappear from CSC anytime soon. When asked when she might one day retire, Emilie’s response was a jubilant, “I intend to work until I am 101, although I may need to assign my own volunteer driver to get me here.”