by Raglan Community House
Raglan Community House is delighted to announce a three-month trial of a “one morning a week shopping bus” in Raglan.
Discussions between the Community House, the Raglan Club, the Raglan RSA and SuperValue have resulted in the Raglan Club van being made available to uplift members of the community from their homes, bring them into Raglan to do their shopping, visit the doctor, library etc and then be delivered back home a couple of hours later.
Raglan Community House will take bookings for the service and roster volunteer drivers. The Raglan Club will provide the vehicle and the Raglan Club, RSA and SuperValue will also make financial contributions to the operating costs.
The service will be available on a Tuesday morning with uplift from your home at around 9.3Oam. For those who wish to do their grocery shopping, SuperValue staff will be on hand to, help if needed. People using the service will be dropped off at the Raglan Club. Pick up will be at 12.30pm from outside SuperValue.
“We have been aware for some time that there are members of our community who are socially isolated and have difficulty in getting into town. They are often dependent on the goodwill of others to get out and about. We hope that this service will encourage people to come into town; do some shopping-renew their library books, visit the doctors or maybe just enjoy some social time with others” says Chrissy Hodkinson of the Community House. “We are hugely grateful to the Raglan Club, the Raglan RSA and SuperValue for their support of this initiative and encourage the community to make use of it”.
Priority will be given to the elderly and more mobility impaired but it needs to be noted that the van is not suitable for wheelchairs or walkers (unless these fold down). If the demand exists there may be the ability to extend the to another day during the week- perhaps an afternoon.
We will need volunteer drivers to drive the van one morning a week and we want create a pool of drivers to ensure that the demand on the driver is limited to perhaps one morning a month — although a regular volunteer would be very welcome! The only requirement is a car driver’s license and a desire to help people in your community.
To make a booking for the van (service starting Tuesday 17th of June) or to volunteer as a “round town” van driver please phone the Community House on Ph: 825 8142.
This is a wonderful idea, and I hope it works in with the 5% discount for gold card holders at Supervalue. Hopefully they will be able to include walking frames as these are an essential safety feature for not-so-abled-bodies.