January 5, 2009
|
| THE SOURCE FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION NEWS AND ANALYSIS |
|
 |
Business Members, Transit Agencies Demonstrate Holiday Spirit Through Charitable Efforts
 During the recent holiday season, charity was foremost in the minds of many public transportation suppliers and agencies, from the more traditional efforts—such as “Stuff the Bus” and Toys for Tots—to innovative approaches that take advantage of the power of the Internet. Here are just a few examples.
Business Members Demonstrate Innovation and Heart
Transit Associates in Lisle, IL, offers outreach to the Boys Town facility in Chicago, which provides emergency shelter and in-home services to children and families.
“I work as a mentor for the facility; the company also provides financial support and works on fundraising events for Boys Town,” said David Hillock, president of Transit Associates. “Some of the youth are interested in getting into the transportation field as a way out of the streets as they get older, becoming a mechanic or a bus or train operator. I try to provide inspiration along those lines, let them know that transit is a career that has an opportunity for a future for them.”
Stantec turned its holiday greetings into an innovative interactive method of soliciting funds for charity. Instead of spending $30,000 to print greeting cards, the company devised an interactive electronic greeting card that allowed recipients to select from among four recipients of the money: the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, Habitat for Humanity, and Oxfam. Stantec donated $1 each time a card recipient voted online for a charity.
Similarly, Interfleet Technology Inc. opted not to spend money on cards this year. Instead, it redirected the cost of printing a corporate Christmas card into a charitable donation to the Make-A-Wish® Foundation, which exists solely to fulfill the special wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses.
Employees of Stacy and Witbeck and its joint venture partners took time off from light rail construction projects for the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon in Portland to donate food and money to the Oregon Food Bank. The companies matched the employees’ cash donations, raising the total to more than $7,000.
Deborah Magaldi, a co-founder of Transit Marketing Group in Boulder, CO, recently leased a historic house she owns in the town of Superior, CO, to Rocky Mountain Siamese Rescue at no charge. The cat rescue group will use the house for its gift shop, one of its main funding sources, and as a location for events and the place where prospective adopters can meet some of the cats.
The Lansing Jaycees used a parked Capital Area Transportation Authority bus in Lansing, MI, to collect donated gifts and items for 20 area children and shelters. Another annual holiday community service project for CATA employees is Operation Santa, which this year benefited 66 students from lower-income households. Students share three wishes with a school social worker, and receive six to eight gifts as well as such basic items as bedding and clothing. CATA picks up the wishes and places them on Giving Tree tags in employee break rooms; employees then select tags and purchase the items and/or give money to fulfill a child’s request. CATA employees donated more than 450 gifts through this program this year, including five bicycles, and delivered them to the school in a 40-foot bus.
Stuff the Bus
Buses ordinarily carry people. But at holiday time, they carry such non-people items as toys, food, and clothing. The approaches may vary, as seen below, but the results are the same: helping those who need some extra support.
Sun Tran in Tucson, AZ, has hosted 22 Stuff the Bus events since 2001, in partnership with a Tucson television station. Over the years, the drives have had a variety of goals, including collecting food for the Tucson Community Food Bank; toys for the Tucson Salvation Army; and two busloads of items for homebound seniors identified through the Pima Council on Aging.
Employees of the Chittenden County Transportation Authority in Burlington, VT, volunteered their time to decorate a passenger bus with holiday lights to make it recognizable as the “Stuff a Bus.” CCTA parked the bus at two shopping areas to accept donations for the Toys for Kids charity.
StarMetro in Tallahassee, FL, collected food for America’s Second Harvest of the Big Bend through a stuff-the-bus event around Thanksgiving. The promotion included placing barrels for donations at various locations throughout the city and a live radio remote broadcast on board the stuffed bus.
Employees of the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority and StarTran in Austin, TX, participated in campaigns for a local elementary school and an organization that benefits the elderly and others in need. For the second year, Capital Metro’s Holiday Tree of Giving Campaign sponsored gifts for 105 students at Brooke Elementary School. System employees also support the school throughout the year with fund-raising activities including a turkey drive for Thanksgiving. In addition, Capital MetroAccess employees provided gift baskets of food, personal care items, and household items such as blankets and linens to 10 clients of H.A.N.D. (Helping the Aging, Needy and Disabled) of Austin.
In Wichita, KS, North American Bus Industries partnered with Wichita Transit and a local radio station to “Stuff the Bus” with gifts for shelter residents including toys, clothing non-perishable food, and personal hygiene items. The transit buses took collections at 68 different locations in Wichita and Hutchinson, KS, between Dec. 1 and Dec. 6, bringing in more than 14 busloads of items valued more than $300,000. The effort also raised $4,000 in cash donations.
|
