The Need Is Urgent
Neighbors Need Volunteers at Island Connections Right Away
BAR HARBOR—Since 2022 Scot Bowen has been giving strangers rides. He’ll take them to an appointment. He’ll take them to a store.
And most of the time, those strangers he’s driving around? They become something else. They become neighbors.
Lori Gray and Carmen Greene? They do the same thing.
It’s all part of the mission of Island Connections.
Founded in 1997, Island Connections transports seniors and people with disabilities. It also provides grocery shopping and other services as well as delivers Meals on Wheels. Each year, it coordinates over 5,500 rides. Volunteers give those rides. Neighbors help neighbors. And donors help keep it going by funding the vital service.
The demand is there. And it’s growing. But the nonprofit needs volunteers to meet that increasing need.
Island Connections is something that people like Norm Langlois rely on. Though, drivers and passengers start off not knowing each other, quite quickly instead of depending on the kindness of strangers behind the wheel, they start to become and depend on a community of friends.
Back in July 2020, Langlois became sick. He ended up needing dialysis three times a week. Dialysis isn’t available in Bar Harbor.
“I couldn’t drive after dialysis. I had to find a way to get to dialysis,” Langlois recalled.
He ended up learning about Island Connections and the agency stepped in and stepped up. Volunteers take him to dialysis multiple times a week.
“You’re going to a treatment that’s not necessarily fun. They make it enjoyable. They really care. Having someone to talk to just sitting there? It takes a lot of pressure off your mind,” he said.
“Without Island Connections, I would have to find a way somehow to get there . . . somehow . . . or have to move to Ellsworth. It’s made a big difference,” Langlois said.
According to the Maine Council on Aging, having transportation is part of good health and the need for it is increasing, particularly for older adults.
Picking up medicine, getting to the store for groceries, getting to doctors’ appointments can all be challenges without reliable transportation. This is especially true in rural areas in Maine.
Those volunteer drivers are part of a community that keeps Langlois alive. Each ride to dialysis helps him survive. Langlois isn’t the only one who needs Island Connections on Mount Desert Island. And he’s not the only one who gets to stay in his community because of its volunteers.
"The number one thing I hear over and over again from our neighbors is, 'I couldn’t live on MDI without Island Connections,’” Island Connections Transportation Coordinator, Stephanie Babich said, “but Island Connections wouldn’t exist without our volunteers. We are in dire need of more volunteers.”
“There are many weeks where we have to turn folks away because we just don’t have the volunteers to make it work. Sometimes, medical appointments are the only social visits our neighbors have. I’d love to see a day where we have enough help to not only cover essential appointments but also take our neighbors to the vet, the salon, social visits, and more,” Babich said.
For volunteers like Bowen, Island Connections has been an easy place to volunteer. He began during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said when many were sidelined.
“I’ve really enjoyed it just because I really enjoy volunteering on a local level where it has a real local impact,” he said. “It’s enjoyable just to give rides and have chats with some of the neighbors.”
“It’s very low stress. It’s nice to help folks that don’t have that independence anymore,” Bowen said.
People like Bowen, Langlois said, help him survive and help him stay in his own home. His family aren’t on Mount Desert Island and can’t help that way. The volunteers of Island Connection can and do.
“They’ve become my family,” Langlois said.
The three paid staff members have a real strong impact on the volunteers, Bowen said. “I’ve really been impressed by how much work they do and just stopping by the office is something I enjoy.”
Kindness is behind much of the work of the volunteer and staff, Executive Director Carissa Tinker agreed.
"The kindness pulsating throughout the island every day on behalf of our volunteers is a really beautiful thing that we get to witness. We've had volunteers be there for a neighbor when they ring the bell at the end of cancer treatment, we've seen volunteers create such a close bond with a neighbor that they're now the executor of the neighbor's will, and neighbors teaching volunteers who are new to the area "how to be a Mainer,” Tinker said. “It's really incredible to see not just the rides given but the community that is built in the process."
"Since the pandemic, the demand for rides to medical appointments and to address food insecurity has grown by over 30%!” Tinker said. “Last year, we coordinated about 1,200 more Priority 1 rides than we did in 2019. It has been difficult to keep up with the rise in need for our services without asking too much of our current pool of volunteers. Even if a volunteer can only do a ride once in a while, it makes a huge difference—every bit of help counts in ensuring we can continue to support our community's most vulnerable members effectively."
Bowen agreed, saying that it was a very flexible volunteer opportunity.
“For me, the other thing is that it’s a very flexible volunteer opportunity. I travel a lot,” he said. “Coming in for every Tuesday to volunteer somewhere doesn’t always work for me.”
So, instead, when he’s back home, he chooses to help by giving four or five rides a week.
“If you’re a volunteer, you can contribute with even providing one or two rides a month. It’s all going to be useful. No act is too small,” he said.
It’s a sentiment Tinker and others want to emphasize. They need volunteers. Urgently. Any commitment helps.
“I’ve never not had a ride,” Langlois said.
Island Connections wants to make sure that Langlois and others can always say they have a ride when they need one. That, after all, is what neighbors are supposed to do: take care of each other.
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ThankYou Carrie and All at Island Connections.
Good as DownEast Transportation is, relatively recent changes to its Bangor schedule make medical/dental appointments by public transport almost impossible. The window is too small. Good as MDI Hospital and local docs/dentists are, their schedules are often packed for months or they don't have the specific expertise. Cabs to Bangor? Over $100 each way. Island Connections is an essential service for many. ThankYou to all involved. (And to users who truly ask for help only as a last resort for crucial help.)