GPT meets goal; service will continue

Through much assistance from the community, the General Public Transportation program has met its goal to keep the service running for the 2013-14 year.

Members of the program's board of directors and other citizens have been working in recent weeks to raise about $9,000 for the GPT service, which is operated by Bourbon County Senior Citizens, Inc., a nonprofit organization.

The service was in danger of shutting down next year unless the funds were raised to help the group meet state and federal matching funds for 2013-14. The service is also short on funds this year due to increased expenses and decreased revenue.

The group's biggest support came in the form of a recent $5,000 pledge from Mercy Hospital, which is a frequent destination for many GPT passengers.

"As chairman of the Senior Citizen board, I want to thank (Mercy Hospital Fort Scott President) Reta Baker from Mercy for their more than generous donation," Bourbon County Senior Citizen, Inc., President Jolynne Stainbrook said. "We thank them for the support Mercy has given to the community for the transportation service. This will enable senior citizens who aren't otherwise mobile to be mobile and active in the community."

Late last month, the GPT program received a $1,000 pledge from the city of Fort Scott and a $500 contribution from the Visioning a Healthier Bourbon County group.

It was recently announced that other assistance will come from the Fort Scott Rotary Club, which helped the service by matching a private $1,000 donation, for a total of $2,000; $2,000 in pledges from the Fort Scott Area Community Foundation; and a $100 pledge from local attorney Charles Gentry.

"Several Rotary board members met and knew how important it (GPT) was to citizens of Fort Scott," Rotary board member Janet Braun said.

The total amount raised to date is $10,600, according to figures Stainbrook provided. Stainbrook said the group will still accept contributions made through Friday, Feb. 15, which is the deadline the group had set for donations so local matching funds can be reported to the state by March 1. Stainbrook said additional funds raised will be used for operating funds for the service.

"We've met the goal amount needed to send to the state for the grant match," she said. "We will encourage everyone to continue fundraising efforts; we definitely need (for) the operating expenses."

Stainbrook said there are still a couple of local groups that have been working on different fundraising projects that are still planned to take place.

One of those fundraisers is a chili feed hosted by Medicalodges of Fort Scott from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 15. Organizers will sell bowls of chili, chili dogs and Frito chili pies to raise money for the GPT service. Orders can be picked up and delivery will also be available.

"We have a lot of family members who use GPT to visit loved ones at Medicalodges," Director of Marketing Deb Madison said. "We thought it was compelling to us ... to help take care of the elderly and a lot of people who use that service."

Madison said she contacted Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lindsay Madison about conducting a fundraiser for GPT and got the ball rolling.

"Contributions are more than welcome," Madison said. "We're hoping people realize what a big service this is to the community."

Madison said that anyone who wants food delivered should contact the facility by Feb. 13 "so we have an idea on how many deliveries we'll have."

A group of officials that has been working to find ways to save the service determined last month that the total shortfall in the budget for the Bourbon County Senior Citizens, Inc., transportation division was about $8,700, after some contributions had already been made. Members had also been approaching area businesses, groups and organizations about committing funds to the service.

The GPT service was expected to be fine through June, but funds needed to be raised for the 2013-14 year, which runs from July through June. Due to recent funding shortages, the service has reduced some costs and cut back on some salaries recently.

Pledges that are made to the service can be paid on throughout the fiscal year.