What is the Angel Bus?
The Angel Bus is a wheelchair accessible van that provides transportation free of charge to Residents of Manitoulin Lodge and adult citizens of western Manitoulin with mobility issues.
How to use the Angel Bus:
If you cannot safely get into a car or truck and you live west of an imaginary line through Providence Bay, Mindemoya, M'Chigeeng and Kagawong, please call our Dispatcher, Shirley, at 705-282-7732. Shirley will take down the particulars of your trip and try to coordinate Angel Bus and Driver availability with your appointment time. You must arrange to have an able-bodied escort accompany the person in need of accessible transportation. Our Drivers do not lift passengers and while driving they are unable to offer assistance to passengers. Our Drivers are trained to safely load, secure, and unload passengers. Currently we have 13 volunteer Drivers and are always looking for more. Please contact Sandy Cook (see Contact page) if you would like to join our caring crew of angels.
Keeping the Angel Bus rollin’ . . .
Since its inception, the Angel Bus initiative has been embraced by the community as a viable, needed and valued service. Local businesses, service clubs, municipalities, churches and individual citizens have generously sustained its operation with donations. During the summer of 2022, the quilt raffle of Pat Best’s “Dreaming of My Manitoulin Home” was a very successful fundraiser, with $6,175 in ticket sales. The Fall ‘n Angels Dance, October 2022, raised close to $2,000. The Angel Bus is totally dependent on donations and all the work, whether it be serving on the Committee, organizing events, dispatching or driving the Angel Bus, is done by volunteers. All monies raised go toward the ongoing maintenance and operation of the Angel Bus. Donations of $1,000 or more are acknowledged with signage on the sides of the Angel Bus for the year of the donation. The Angel Bus averages over 100 outings per year, including medical runs and fun/social outings such as Providence Bay Fair, Bluegrass in the Country, and fall colour or Christmas light tours. In 2022, our expenses totaled $24,780, due in large part to insurance ($8,720) and fuel ($8,740). Early in 2023, we were able to replace our 2008 vehicle with a 2022 Ford Transit, capable of transporting 6 passengers, two of which can be wheelchairs. If you would like to donate to the Angel Bus, please go to our Donation page.
“Dreaming of My Manitoulin Home”
Pat Best beside her original, gorgeous, handmade quilt raffled in 2022 on behalf of the Angel Bus.
The Angel Bus needed a lift… and the community picked us up!
After years of savings, the Angel Bus Committee was on track for the purchase of a replacement used vehicle in 2024, but mounting mechanical and structural issues with our 2008 Angel Bus made imminent replacement prudent.
Well, the new Angel Bus is now on-Island and in full operation, thanks to the very successful crowdsourcing campaign the end of January, that raised the final $30,000 needed….actually, over $34,000 in under 5 days! Combined with extremely generous donations of $15,000 each from Manitoulin Transport and the Douglas A. Smith Family Foundation, plus the $80,000 saved from Angel Bus donations over the last six years, we were able to purchase a 2022 Ford Transit 350 extended Demo Cargo Van, accessibly modified with a side wheelchair lift, 5 moveable seats and up to 2 wheelchairs, to make a 6-passenger van. Our Drivers have been trained on it and by all accounts, it’s a wonderful replacement! Passenger views and comfort are very much improved!
Thanks to all the Angels who made this possible!
In the News
Manitoulin Expositor, March 16th, 2022 “Lafarge Canada Incorporated helps Manitoulin Island’s Angel Bus”
Richard Patterson, production foreman of Lafarge, on behalf of the company, presented a cheque in the amount of $4,000 to Ted Kilpatrick, member of the Angel Bus operating committee.
PaiNTINg by jan bainbridge