Local hospital helps Fairmount Center get needed bus

Originally posted in The Examiner, April 18, 2011

The issue

For nearly a year, the NorthWest Communities Development Corporation’s Fairmount Community Center sponsored fundraisers to reach the goal of $20,000 for a new bus to transport seniors to programs.

As Charlie Shields, chief operating officer of Truman Medical Center-Lakewood, learned of these efforts in The Examiner, he had an idea.

Background

“We have literally been praying for quite some time that we would have a bus,” said Jim Reynolds, the NWCDC’s board president, “and this bus would not just be for outings but to reach out to those who, for any number of reasons, have stopped driving and would not be able to come (to the Fairmount Community Center).”

“Sometimes, God uses interesting ways to pass His message along,” Shields said of the newspaper article he had read.

TMC-Lakewood had an extra bus, and Shields officially turned its key over to the NWCDC during its annual dinner in late March. A ceremony Thursday morning at 217 S. Cedar Ave. in Independence honored the arrival of the bus with cake, punch and comments, including remarks from Mayor Don Reimal.

“As important as the bus is to us, what’s more important is the relationship and the partnership that is being built day by day with organizations like Truman-Lakewood,” said Bill Rogers, NWCDC’s executive director.