Shaun Heflin and Brendon Walker had to get to a job site at 7 a.m. each day about 10 miles from where they live. Neither of them had access to their own vehicle.

Despite the distance, the two military veterans always made it to work on time from their temporary residence at VA Butler Healthcare.

“With (the Alliance for Nonprofit Resources) doing what they're doing, it kind of fills the gaps,” Walker said. “What they did for us, they got us through that period of time.”

Heflin bought a car Monday, July 31, which he said would not have been possible without the help of Rise Up Rides, a grant-funded transportation program that helps people get to grocery stores, doctor’s appointments and their jobs. Rise Up Rides allowed him to save money on transportation costs, which eventually led him to purchasing a vehicle of his own.

Cody J. Slater, director of transportation for the Alliance for Nonprofit Resources, said Rise Up Rides has provided 351 trips to 39 different people since the program started in late-February or early-March. He said many clients need help getting to destinations miles away from Butler, but others need help just getting their groceries back to their homes.

“If they need help going down the block, we’ll take them,” Slater said. “We’re here to help people.”

Jayme Steighner, senior programs director with the Lighthouse Foundation, is another coordinator of Rise Up Rides. The Lighthouse Foundation manages the $5,000 grant from the Butler Collaborative for Families. She said the day the group received the grant, it was matched by Family Pathways CEO Elan Welter Lewis, so the program ended up with $10,000 to work with.

Becky Clouse, community health program manager at Independence Health System, said the idea for Rise Up Rides stemmed from a housing summit she, Steighner and Slater attended in 2021.

“We found that transportation has been a barrier to safe housing, among many other things, so we created this group and started meeting monthly, talking about all things transportation,” Clouse said.

According to Steighner, clients of other local nonprofits and agencies refer people to Rise Up Rides, and its coordinators help them schedule their trips. The money from the grant pays for ANR’s transportation costs, she said.

Getting to and from necessities is one of the biggest needs of people receiving food or housing aid the group found, Steighner said.

“Rise Up Rides provides the funding and then Cody and his team schedule it; we will say, ‘Yes, this ride qualifies,’” she said. “A staff member at ANR will schedule it, let the client know a day in advance. The driver shows up and they take them to wherever we put on the referral.”

Steighner said the group works with people on where and when they need to get somewhere, and they try to stick within a 20-mile radius of Butler, with some exceptions.

“Even just people living in town are having road blocks getting to the grocery store,” Steighner said. “Some people we’re giving rides to, we are their only option.”

Judy Smith, of Butler, has taken multiple trips through Rise Up Rides, with one of her frequent destinations being the food pantry at the Lighthouse Foundation. She said if not for the service, she would have to walk a considerable distance to a bus stop, and carry her groceries up a hill to her house by herself.

“I don’t drive; I didn’t have any way out here until ANR,” Smith said. “They pick me up and take me home. They help me carry produce and take it into my house.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture lists a majority of Butler as low-income and low access at half-a-mile and 10 miles, meaning a “significant number or share of residents is more than 0.5 mile (urban) or 10 miles (rural) from the nearest food store.” The data also lists much of the city as low access to food for people who do have vehicle access.

Clouse said the lack of grocery stores in downtown Butler has long been an issue for people living in the city who don’t own a vehicle or drive. She said speaking with people who can’t even get to grocery stores led to discussions about other places they could not get without a vehicle.

“Some of the key places we were looking at were health care; food security like getting to and from the grocery store, food banks; a lot of things I would see were hospital discharges, getting to follow-up appointments; employment,” Clouse said.

Steighner said the Lighthouse Foundation’s food pantry in Middlesex Township gives clients the experience of grocery shopping, which differs from food programs where items come prepackaged.

“That way they could go to the pantry and choose what they want instead of just getting a box of random food they may not even like,” Steighner said. “It allows people to still have that ability to choose the food that their families will enjoy.”

Smith said she can now get to the food pantry through Rise Up Rides, but also uses the program to get to other destinations.

“I use it to get to doctor’s appointments, therapy, Walmart,” Smith said. “I can get to food when I need it.”

Clouse said Ride Up Rides still has a healthy amount of its grant money remaining, but its coordinators are looking for a way to keep the program going once the funding runs out.

Further funding would allow Rise Up Rides to keep taking on new clients, so its organizers can help them find long-term solutions to transportation issues.

“It’s not a permanent solution,” Clouse said of Rise Up Rides. “We're trying to bridge that gap but try to get them connected to more permanent solutions.”

According to Slater, the goal of Rise Up Rides is to give people one less obstacle to worry about in their planning and in their finances.

“It bridges the gap. People that are just starting a job, that first paycheck, they can put a down payment on a car,” Slater said. “We’re not something that people can depend on for a long period of time. We’ll get you from ‘A’ to ‘B’ until you can find your way.”

Heflin said Rise Up Rides helped him not only get from point “A” to point “B” physically, but also financially.

“If it wasn't for the ride service, we would have never been able to get to work,” Heflin said. “It gave us a better opportunity... I got a car this past Monday.”