Taking Seniors for a Ride—in a Good Way

Ethel Sturdivant gave her car away a couple of years ago to a granddaughter headed to college. The 73-year-old Ellicott City resident has difficulty getting on buses and doesn’t like figuring out the routes.

So when Sturdivant needs to get around—and when her two daughters who live in the area aren’t available—she turns to Neighbor Ride.

The Columbia-based agency recruits volunteers to drive Howard County residents 60 and older to and from medical appointments, visits to a hairdresser or simply on outings with friends, along with other destinations within and beyond the county.

This past Monday, Sturdivant needed to see a dentist off Centre Park Drive in Columbia. Her ride there marked the 10,000th trip Neighbor Ride has given this fiscal year, nearly 2,100 more than 2010.

Neighbor Ride officials think the organization will have given 11,000 rides (one segment of a round-trip) by the end of June, nearly doubling its numbers from just two years ago.

“Seniors are the fastest-growing segment of the population,” said Colleen Kostanzer, community outreach coordinator. “Of all their concerns and worries, transportation was No. 1.”

The service isn’t free; a round-trip in Howard County costs between $6 and $12, though the price doesn’t rise if, for instance, a number of friends are heading to the same destination. There are also free rides, subsidized through donations and grants, for those who qualify for free transportation on the county’s bus system.

What the riders get in return is something that contributes to their quality of life, Kostanzer said.

“We’ve often gotten comments: ‘I’d be homebound. I don’t know what I’d do without you. I don’t know how I’d get to the doctors’ appointments.’ Folks have basically said, ‘You’ve taken the stress out of taking care of myself and turned it into a sense of community.’ ” 

Neighbor Ride launched Nov. 17, 2004, giving 535 rides by the end of June 2005. The numbers increased to 3,689 rides in fiscal year 2006, 5,429 rides in fiscal year 2007, 5,771 rides in 2008, 5,992 rides in 2009, and 7,903 rides in fiscal year 2010.

Kostanzer credits the increase mostly to word of mouth, but also to changes in the county bus routes that left fewer options for elderly riders getting to get to their destinations. 

The number of volunteers has also risen, starting with 20 in November 2004 and reaching about 320 now. They range in age from 21 to those in their 70s, including young mothers, fathers and working professionals.

Sturdivant rode Monday in the Hyundai Infiniti of Bruce Fulton, 40, a Woodbine resident who works in financial services.

He got involved with Neighbor Ride after running into an old friend’s parents at a grocery store—they had gotten a ride there. He said he recognized the necessity for volunteering during a time that his mother was out of town and he ended up driving his father around during a series of snowstorms.

He now volunteers for about three round trips a month.

“It’s a great service to get folks to where they need to be if they don’t have kids in the area,” Fulton said. “It’s cliché, but it’s a ride and a conversation. You get to ride with folks and hear their stories.”

Sturdivant said she is thankful for Neighbor Ride and volunteers such as Fulton. She averages about one round trip with the organization each month, often for medical appointments, but also for shopping.

“It would be impossible [to get around] unless I could get a neighbor to bring me over here,” she said.

The drivers “are all terrific,” she said. “By the time I get back home we can be considered friends.”