When Paulette Anderson first got the idea to create the Volunteer Transportation Service, it was because "people were slipping through the cracks."

The executive director of the Mower County Senior Center saw an opportunity.

Mower County Transit was leaving the umbrella of the organization and physically moving from its senior center headquarters.

In addition, MCT decided not to renew its grant with the Southeast Minnesota Area Agency on Aging.

Thus, Anderson saw both an opportunity and the financial resources to act.

She pounced and the rest is history.

The Volunteer Transportation Service of the Seniors, Inc. debuted Oct. 31, with Tammy Flicek serving as transportation coordinator.

"Tammy was a good choice for the job," Anderson said. "She had a real positive attitude and we're on the same page about this. We're treating this as a baby and it's still in its infancy, but we want to do whatever we can to make this baby grow,"

MCT continues to offer its Volunteer In Motion service, which both Anderson and Flicek praise.

There is also the private sector's AB Taxi.

But the Seniors, Inc.'s Volunteer Transportation Service is making an impact and carving a niche as a community resource in the public transit world in both Austin and greater Mower County.

"Our telephone survey indicates we're getting glowing reports,"

Anderson said. "The demand is there and our clients pay what they can afford. These are people who need transportation services at their door. They are elderly or handicapped and need an escort service to guide them from the door of their residence to the car and from the car to their designated destination.

"They are the people, who Mower County Transit couldn't help. They are the people who were slipping through the cracks."

Anderson received a grant from SEMAAA in the amount of $12,830. The grant expires at the end of 2003.

"From the start, the concept was that our volunteer drivers would also be an escort service," Anderson said. "They would meet the rider at their door and then take them into the place where they needed to go."

The volunteer drivers include MCT drivers They are mainly recruited through the Retired Senior Volunteer Program of Rushford. Most live in Austin but some live in Grand Meadow and other out-county communities.

In all, seven drivers provide services five days, Monday through Friday, a week.

Riders are asked to call 434-2188 a week in advance to reserve a driver.

The drivers have driven clients to Rochester and the Twin Cities, but mostly to Austin destinations.

Ninety percent of the riders chose Austin Medical Center-Mayo Health System as their destination.

Riders are asked to make a donation to the Volunteer Transportation Service to cover the expenses incurred.

Anderson and Flicek are also busy attempting to raise $5,400 from other sources to cover expenses.

The riders are largely people who "need help" in many ways, according to Flicek. Each of them must be able to transfer from their wheelchair or walker to the vehicle.

According to Flicek, in the first three months of operation, the new service received 270 calls or contacts of inquiry and served 68 riders.

"We're not in business to compete with Mower County Transit," Anderson said.

Still, she and Flicek are aggressively working to attract more riders and to obtain funding to sustain the service or help it grow. That includes the SEMAAA money.

"If the Area Agency on Aging money is there, we're going

to go after it," Anderson said. "With the state budget crisis, that is uncertain at this time. We need this service. There are new clients coming to us from our advocates all the time."

"MCT is wonderful," Flicek said. "But we believe we can offer a little piece of the pie and give people another option."

Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at

lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com