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News, Status and Articles
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In this Tasks for Transit Newsletter, for September 2017, we feature our latest news, publish some basic statistics and describe our recent yard sale. We will use the abbreviation TFT for Tasks for Transit throughout this newsletter.
Brian Manning, Co-editor
Steve McClure, Co-editor
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Tasks for Transit is in a growth spurt! In 2017, we plan to more than double the number of bus day passes we distributed in 2017.
- We are now serving 18 partner charities, on track to increase the number of partner charities to 21 by year's end, adding at least one new partner charity every month.
- In August we added the Multicultural Wellness Center Inc. as a partner charity.
- In September we added LUK Inc Crisis Center (for youth).
- The WRTA recently raised prices for bus day passes from $3.50 to $4.50. They also phased out the generous discount previously given to Tasks for Transit. We will have to double our budget going forward because the price increase from our perspective is 143%.
- Our September yard sale (see article below) raised $850 in cash.
- We finished our video, thanks to the combined efforts of Emir Lopez and Lou Swinand!
- We had a table at the Worcester Public Library annual Volunteer Fair.
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From March 2015 to September 2017
Number of charities supported = 18
WRTA day passes dispensed = 1920
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What is a Partner Charity?
TFT's Partner Charities distribute the WRTA individual bus day passes. Since TFT is trying to assist the economically disadvantaged, TFT chooses partners that service this type of client 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 individual day pass. These Partners Charities are typically 501(c)(3) organizations, not able to provide transportation to their clients.. TFT enables them to do that.
The eighteen organizations currently TFT Partner Charities are:
- · South Worcester Neighborhood Center
- · Standup for Kids (homeless youth)
- · Safe Homes (LGBT youth)
- · Parent/Professional Advocacy League (youth mental health)
- · Straight Ahead Ministries (felons coming out of prisons)
- · Clemente Courses in the Humanities
- · Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Worcester (families in crisis)
- · Hope Coalition (troubled youth)
- · Woodland Academy (homeless families)
- · YWCA Domestic Violence Services (abused families in crisis)
- · Worcester Homeless Shelter at SMOC (the primary shelter for homeless adults)
- · Eliot Community Human Services (mental health services)
- · Friendly House (neighborhood center, homeless shelters)
- · Veterans Inc. (homeless shelters for veterans and associated services)
- · Visitation House (adult homeless pregnant women)
- · Planned Parenthood
- · Multicultural Wellness Center
- · LUK Inc. Crisis Center (youth)
What we are doing is fundamental. We hope you feel the same way.
If your organization would like to become one of TFT's partner charities, please take our on-line
survey.
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Featured Article
TFT Yard Sale
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On September 9, 2017, Tasks for Transit held a yard sale in the parking lot of our office at 379 Greenwood Street, with permission from the building’s owner, Gina's Antiques. The weather had been a source of concern with the possibility of two hurricanes reaching New England, but the weather on the day of the sale was perfect: sunny but not too warm and no rain or gusty winds.
We had been planning and preparing for this sale all summer long. My wife, Donna, and I went to the ends of many yard sales, suggesting that if anything was going to be discarded or given away at the end of their sale, that we should be considered. The result was a ton of donations. Even then we were aware of the obvious assumption we were making, that we were going to try to sell what others couldn't sell for lack of demand! Why did we think we could do any better?! The net effect was that both our garage at home and my office were buried waist-high in stuff that had to be sorted and priced. The variety was staggering; we were way overstocked with kid’s toys and household things!
The other thing we did all summer was to ask for other people’s help. Some donated their time. Some lent us tables and others donated salable items, including valuable collectibles (kept out of the yard sale, and put on Craigslist). Three lent both trucks and labor! When the actual day came we had 15 to 18 volunteers helping with the setup, the day-long activity and the cleanup. We started with nine tables of our own plus another six lent by Marty Moore, who also donated a lot of stuff. My landlord, Bill LaPan, who runs Gina's Antiques, supplied another six tables. It took over two hours to setup and, even with over 20 tables, there were boxes still full on the ground.
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Photo Source: Breanna Winberg
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Apples and mandarin oranges were free for the volunteers as well as for sale. Homemade oatmeal, chocolate chip and chocolate crinkle cookies were also sold. Many of the volunteers were with us all day, from start to finish, including Annette Matthew-Bennett, a woman whom I had met just the previous week (Multicultural Wellness Center, a new client), and her daughter.
Despite conscious efforts to organize the area by categories of things being sold, it was almost impossible to manage the chaos of such a large sale. We quickly decided to have multiple bankers because of the steady traffic of buyers. We had done a variety of things to promote the sale in advance including paper flyers and various internet postings. We got several free notices from the local newspaper,
The Chronicle. It all paid off. When the day was over we had raised $850! It was also good publicity and gained TFT some name recognition. When it was all over, I went home and slept for 12 hours!
The success of this sale would have been impossible without the collective efforts of the volunteers. We want to thank all of them again. They seemed to enjoy the day and it was for a good cause. We have posted their names on our website. Thank you, volunteers, from the bottom of our hearts.
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Go to our website, Facebook page or our crowd funding site! You will see that we have added a video. The best aspects of this video are the comments made by representatives of some of our partner charities.
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Tasks for Transit must raise considerably more funds to stay on our plan for 2017 and to continue to expand our operations in 2018. Preliminary estimates show that our overall annual budget will increase from $7,482 in 2017 to $16,709 in 2018. In addition to encouraging personal and corporate donations, we plan to put much more emphasis on applications for competitive grants. We have compiled a list of 48 potential organizations making such grants, that have expressed an interest in human services for the economically disadvantaged.
More information about Tasks for Transit may be found at our
website.
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Please support our donor organizations. They are listed in the sponsors page on our
website.
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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. While walking is an alternative, it is a burden for the handicapped, a daunting alternative for everyone in foul weather and an unsafe alternative at night.
We are hoping you will support our efforts with a generous donation. One way to do that is to go to our Crowd Funding page on
youcaring.com.
We continue to be an all-volunteer organization with no employee costs and no office costs. You can be confident that 99% of your donations will go directly to purchase 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
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