FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

One of the core mandates of Drive Happiness (DH) has always been to help fight social isolation. In March of 2020, as the world was shutting down, our staff reached out to make sure that our seniors knew they were not alone, calling each one to check-in, to confirm that they had support either through family, their seniors’ residence or friends. DH staff found many seniors who were struggling so they created a ‘Friendly Callers’ program to check in with them. This quickly created support and comfort for our seniors as well as for the volunteers that assisted the DH staff with the calls.

Drive Happiness took part in many meetings with the Government of Alberta, Alberta Health Services and seniors’ sector organizations to determine the best ways to keep seniors safe. Staying at home was the answer, but in order to successfully remain in place, seniors needed help. Our volunteers began shopping and delivering groceries and prescriptions. Staff gave hundreds of referrals to help get seniors set up with home support services, supported and safe housing, mental health resources and virtual programming. With how quickly things were changing, our staff created a weekly newsletter to get the most up-to-date information to our seniors. Volunteers started delivering essential toiletry kits, food hampers, PPE and activity packs.

DH worked closely with our existing partners such as Sage Seniors Association, GEF Seniors Housing, Edmonton Seniors Coordinating Council and the Westend Seniors Activity Centre. We built new and strengthened existing relationships to support as many seniors as we could by assisting Capital Care Foundation, The City of Beaumont and Beaumont FCSS, City of Leduc FCSS, Leduc County FCSS, Sturgeon County FCSS, Parkland County FCSS, Multicultural Health Brokers, The United Way, C5 North East Hub, Edmonton Food Bank, Strathcona Food Bank, Leduc Food Bank, Edmonton Seniors Centre, AHS Home Care, Lethbridge Senior Citizens Association, Red Deer Golden Circle, St. Albert Seniors Association, Board City Connects in Lloydminster, Volunteer Alberta, Calgary Seniors' Resource Society, City of Wetaskiwin and Wetaskiwin County FCSS, Morinville FCSS and The Cross Cancer Institute. Through it all, it became increasingly clear that our organization provide an essential service and that Drive Happiness is the organization that has ‘wheels to the ground’ as a provider to depend on.

The pandemic proved that Drive Happiness is ready to build upon our experience and expand to new locations. There are increasing numbers of requests for service from many rural towns and major cities for assisted transportation across the province. Drive Happiness is looking forward to a day when all seniors can find safe, affordable transportation that gets them where they need to go. DH has changed and grown and will continue to move forward. As a society, paying respect to our elders must include a fully faceted plan to keep them happy, healthy and independent for as long as possible. Transportation is often the missing piece of any plan for independent senior care, but we at Drive Happiness will not let it be forgotten. DH has changed and grown and will continue to move forward in 2021.

Finally, on behalf of the Drive Happiness Board of Directors and Staff, I want to extend a sincere thank you to our volunteers. Over the past year they continued to keep the organization running by volunteering their time and vehicles. They pushed through all the ups and downs we experienced with stages of opening and closing the economy as well as the fluctuations in COVID infections. Their dedication to keeping seniors healthy and happy in 2020 exceeded anyone’s expectation. They truly do drive happiness.

Liza Bouchard