If your nonprofit organization is looking for a way to bring services to people with limited access to transportation, you might want to think about used buses for sale. These school year heroes and mainstays of public transportation can serve needs that extend far beyond their usual routes. Here are four programs that use buses to improve life in the community.
Mobile Art
Philadelphia's Portside Art Center offers children a safe place to explore their creative side after school. During the day, their brightly-painted ArtsMobile bus provides art classes to schools that can no longer provide them. This mobile solution lets students and teachers use art to experience their regular curriculum with a new perspective, without requiring the use of limited school resources.
Getting a fix on spaying and neutering pets
Because their religion prohibits them from driving cars, Amish pet owners often find it difficult to transport their animals to the vet for spaying or neutering. The result is an overpopulation of cats and dogs in the area. Now a mobile clinic brings the vet to the pets, providing affordable spay/neuter services and rabies vaccinations. The Geauga Humane Society offers this service both to the Amish community and to low-income households in their area. Hours and locations of service are selected to mesh with the customs in the local community.
Mobile meals for students during summer vacation
Many children receive free meals at school, ensuring that they have the nutrition they need to be able to learn. Schools continue to offer the program during the summer months, but not all children can get to the school at that time. In the Arizona town of Marana, the children don't have to go the meals. The food comes to them in a converted school bus-cum-diner. Patrons get to enjoy their breakfast or lunch in a comfortable, air-conditioned seating area. Meals are free for children under the age of 18. Those over 18 pay just one dollar.
Cleanliness and dignity for the homeless
In San Francisco, Lava Mae is using buses as mobile hygiene stations for the homeless. The specially-equipped vehicles follow a set route around the city, offering guests a hot shower and private toilet facilities. Visitors are greeted at check-in and provided with everything they need to clean up. These 20-minute sessions provide the homeless a measure of comfort and dignity that they may not be able to find in traditional shelters.
Buses provide a self-contained way to get services to those who have trouble reaching your facility. They can be customized for almost any function. Best of all, there's no need to pack and unpack supplies and equipment. The bus can be kept in a secure location, ready to offer help and hope whenever and wherever it is needed.
