SHEPHERD’S HERALD: Spring 2021 (Volume 7, Issue 2)

Ride Coordinators Key to the Center’s Program

The Shepherd’s Center is a non-profit corporation established in 2006 primarily to provide free rides for medical care to older adults in McLean, Arlington, and Falls Church. This remains the core mission and it has grown from a handful of volunteer drivers in 2006 to last year’s total of 75, who provided over 2,000 rides to about 100 clients.

The key to providing this service has been the ride coordinators, currently a group of 8 volunteers who manage the program on a daily basis. They rotate weekly shifts, fielding incoming client ride requests and matching them with available volunteer drivers. Over the years close to 100% of the requests have been satisfied by volunteer drivers, although due to the pandemic, last summer it was necessary to supplement the requests with Center-funded taxi service. As our drivers receive their vaccines this Spring they will once again return to full strength and get behind the wheel.