Transportation is rated "extremely important" to many of the charities TFT serves.
 
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News, Status and Articles
In this Tasks for Transit Newsletter, for January 2018, we feature our latest news, publish some basic statistics and explain the very ambitious goals we have set for Tasks for Transit in 2018. We will use the abbreviation TFT for Tasks for Transit throughout this newsletter.

Brian Manning, Co-editor
Steve McClure, Co-editor
News
 At its December meeting, the Tasks for Transit Board of Directors voted, based on the positive response to out fund-raising and our well-appreciated outreach, that we will continue to expand the list of our partner charities and the number of bus day-pass tickets we give to each of them. In 2017 we planned to more than double the number of bus day passes that we distributed in 2016, and thanks to your generous support, we were successful in doing that!  As explained in the article below, in 2018 we plan to triple our outreach!

  • In December, Dismas House (housing, employment for ex-convicts) became TFT's 21st partner charity. 
  • We expect to add a 22nd partner charity by March. We have not yet decided which non-profit that will be.
Status

From March 2015 through January2018

  • Number of charities supported = 21 annually, and the temporary winter months homeless overflow shelter (Hotel Grace)
  • WRTA day passes dispensed = 2740
  • Current price for a single-day WRTA bus pass=$4.50.
Featured Article
TFT's Ambitious Goals for 2018
TFT's goal in 2017 was to double the number of single-day bus passes that it dispensed in 2016. As noted above, TFT met that goal. At the December 2017 meeting of the Tasks for Transit board of directors, we voted to challenge ourselves to meet an even more ambitious goal for 2018, to more than triple the 1690 single-day bus passes we dispensed in 2017. Our new goal is to provide 5640 single-day bus passes in 2018! Measured in the context of 2017, that is a three-and-a-third-fold increase! 

In 2017 we were able to raise over $9,350. Our goal for 2018 is to raise the TFT annual budget to $31,200, a corresponding three-and-a-third-fold increase. We are currently evaluating how we will accomplish this challenging goal. We expect to continue to expand our network of partner charities at the rate of one per quarter, finishing 2018 with 25.

 Initially we will continue at the rate of ten passes per month per charity, sort of business as usual, accounting for 2820 of the planned 5640 bus day-passes to be dispensed in 2018. That rate of activity will account for half of our 2018 goal; the other half, 2820 bus day-passes, will most likely dispensed through a second TFT program, still in its formative stages. We will have more to say about it in our February newsletter. So stay tuned!.
TFT Partner Charities
What is a Partner Charity?

TFT's Partner Charities distribute the WRTA individual bus passes. Since TFT's mission is to assist the economically disadvantaged, TFT chooses partners that service this population on a daily basis. Partner Charities have the understanding and experience necessary to recognize a person and his or her situation that justifies dispensing a free single-day bus-pass. These Partner Charities are typically 501(c)(3) organizations, not able to provide transportation to their clients. TFT enables them to do that for their most needy clients.

The twenty one current TFT Partner Charities are:

  1. · South Worcester Neighborhood Center (wide variety of services to poor)
  2. · Standup for Kids (homeless youth)
  3. · Safe Homes (LGBT youth)
  4. · Parent/Professional Advocacy League (youth mental health)
  5. · Straight Ahead Ministries (felons coming out of prisons)
  6. · Clemente Courses in the Humanities (free college-level courses)
  7. · Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Worcester (families in crisis)
  8. · Hope Coalition (troubled youth)
  9. · Woodland Academy (homeless families)
  10. · YWCA Domestic Violence Services (abused families in crisis)
  11. · Worcester Homeless Shelter at SMOC (the primary Worcester shelter for homeless adults)
  12. · Eliot Community Human Services (mental health services)
  13. · Friendly House (neighborhood center, homeless shelters)
  14. · Veterans Inc. (homeless shelters for veterans and associated services)
  15. · Visitation House (adult homeless pregnant women)
  16. · Planned Parenthood (women’s medical care)
  17. · Multicultural Wellness Center (mental and behavioral health counseling)
  18. · LUK Inc. Crisis Center (homeless youth)
  19. · Genesis Club (job training, employment counseling, inexpensive meals)
  20. · Central Mass Housing Alliance (vocational training, employment counseling)
  21. · Dismas House (housing and employment for ex-convicts)
Walking Across the City in Winter is a Hardship
Donations
Walking in snow mother and child
We Need Your Support!
We see Tasks for Transit as a fundamental charity trying to meet one essential need of the economically disadvantaged: safe and dependable transportation for persons who would otherwise have to walk or not be able to go to appointments, interviews, or even grocery shopping. While walking is sometimes an alternative, it is a burden for the handicapped, daunting for everyone in foul weather and an unsafe alternative at night. 

 
You can help us meet this need! Think of it this way. A $600 donation will support one of the TFT partner charities for one year. A $50 donation will support one TFT partner charity for one month. 
 
To support our efforts with an online donation, you may go to our Crowd Funding page on youcaring.com , or the PayPal link on our website.

If you are a frequent shopper on Amazon.com, please consider using the Amazon Smile link on the home page of our website, or the following URL. https://smile.amazon.com/ch/47-3591569
 
We continue to be an all-volunteer organization with no employee costs and no office costs! There are a minimum of operational costs. You can be confident that almost all of your donation will go directly to purchase WRTA bus day-passes!

Sincerely,

Brian Manning and Steve McClure
Tasks for Transit
379 Greenwood Street, Suite 4
Millbury, MA 01527
617-851-0313
  We also have a Post Office Box
Tasks for Transit
PO Box 70544
Worcester, MA  01607
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Contact | Tasks for Transit | 617-851-0313 | | contact @tasksfortransit org |www.tasksfortransit.org