B.C. volunteer cancer drivers near recruitment goal, but need becoming greater
Global News
A B.C. charity that drives cancer patients to appointments has nearly hit a key recruiting goal, but says the need keeps climbing and it can never have too many volunteers.
A Lower Mainland charity dedicated to transporting cancer patients to and from treatment says it’s on the verge of meeting a key recruitment goal.
In March, the Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society set out to bring on 100 new drivers in 100 days saying it couldn’t keep up with demand.
The society forecast it would need to provide 29,000 trips this year, up five per cent from last year. But society president Bob Smith said they’re already on track to beat their own estimate by 20 per cent.
“The growth of demand of our patients across all of the regions we’re serving, Vancouver in particular, tri-cities, is greater than we expect,” he said.
But there’s good news. Since the call went out, Smith said 160 people had reached out to apply. Thirty-one of them are already on the road, with another 67 on the way to meeting their requirements, he said.
Smith said their clients come from all walks of life, and range from children to the frail or elderly. What they all have in common is the need for support.
“They have a lot on their plate with a diagnosis of cancer,” he said.
“We take one of the difficult challenges off the plate. We pick them up at home, we take them to treatment, we wait for them, and we take them back home. This is a huge lift.”