The expansion of Plymouth’s CAL Express transportation program is more than an adjustment to a schedule. For an older adult who cannot drive, a ride can determine whether the day includes friendship, a class, a medical appointment, or hours of unwanted isolation. Transportation is sometimes called a convenience. For many neighbors, it is the difference between being included and being left behind.
The Center for Active Living serves people whose abilities and circumstances vary. One resident may have stopped driving after surgery. Another may find winter roads intimidating. A third may be perfectly capable of navigating the destination but unable to reach the entrance. These are not the same problems. A good transportation service recognizes the person rather than reducing everyone to a seat in a van.
In Mark 2, four friends carried a paralyzed man to Jesus and, when the crowd blocked the doorway, found another way to bring him close. The lesson is not that every barrier disappears. It is that love does not stop at the first inaccessible entrance.
That teaching is Christian, but its practical meaning belongs to the whole community. A rider should know how to make a reservation, what to expect if plans change, and whom to contact when something goes wrong. A volunteer or driver should greet the passenger as an adult whose time matters, not as a burden. And neighbors should remember that needing help on one Tuesday says nothing about a person’s value or independence.
Plymouth’s size and spread make these questions especially important. An outing that looks routine to a person with a car can be impossible to someone without one. The value of CAL Express will be found in everyday results: the person who returns to an activity, the friendship that resumes, the appointment that is kept, and the quiet relief of no longer needing to ask for a favor each time.
When we widen the road to participation, we are doing something more lasting than providing transportation. We are telling a neighbor that the room is still theirs.
– Douglas Vandergraph