DIAL-A-COMMUNITY
BUS NEWS
2008
Press
Release;
Thursday 27th August 2008
Ruby
Wedding Donation For
Dial-A-Community Bus
Buchan
Dial-a-Community Bus got a fantastic present this week when
a local couple presented them with a cheque for £500.
Mr and Mrs Cowie of New Deer celebrated their Ruby Wedding earlier
this month. Instead of presents they requested that donations
should be given to local charity Dial-A-Community Bus.
Dial-a-Community
Bus’ General Manager Mrs Rachel Milne met the couple to
pass on the project’s congratulations. She
was stunned at the value of the donation;
“This
is a wonderful present for the organisation and is extremely
welcome right now! DACB has to raise £6000 through fundraising
every year just to help support the services, if we want to
do anything on top of this; we have to find the money separately.
Our main office computers are fairly old and this donation will
enable us to upgrade the main one; something that is desperately
needed.”
She went on to say;
“As a charity we rely on the goodwill of the community
as well as grant assistance. We are very grateful for any help
from any area of the community, from the small personal envelopes
given to us on the bus to the larger company donations that
occasionally come our way. It all goes to ensure that the people
of Buchan who cannot access public transport have an alternative
option.”
Buchan Dial-a-Community Bus (DACB) is a growing social enterprise
in North East Aberdeenshire, focussing on reducing social exclusion
through the provision of high quality community transport delivery
and support services.
Over
the last 8 years DACB has evolved into a major transport provider
in the Buchan area and currently run several services locally,
including; door to door shopping services, patient transport,
evening youth transport, library visits, community group use
as well as Shopmobility in Peterhead. They provide approx. 28,000
passenger journeys per year using 6 minibuses and a community
car scheme.
None of these services are commercially viable but all provide
an essential link for disadvantaged people in Buchan.
DACB
created one of the first Community Interest Companies in Aberdeenshire
when they opened a separate business (DAB Plus) to create a
surplus which then feeds into the DACB charity, thereby hopefully
reducing the organisation’s long term reliance on grant
funding.
DAB Plus is currently working in partnership with Job Centre
Plus to provide a service in Peterhead and surrounds for those
people who find transport a barrier to returning to the workplace.
