LOCAL NEWS I

COLLISION

AND

SMART May Help Seniors
Travel To The JCC

SUSAN GRANT

Staff Writer

S

enior citizens in West
Bloomfield and
Bloomfield townships
struggling to get to the
Maple-Drake Jewish Com-
munity Center could soon
get SMART.
The Suburban Mobility
Authority for Regional
Transportation (SMART)
has agreed to drive seniors
from their homes to the JCC
and back every Monday —if
more than five people are in-
terested.
"We're trying to reach
people who aren't utilizing

"We're trying to
reach people who
aren't utilizing the
Center," -
Margo Weitzer

the Center," said Margo
Weitzer, the Center's senior
adult program developer.
Every week she gets com-
plaints from seniors who
want to use the Center, but
have no way of getting there
except when friends or fami-
ly members can take them.
With the SMART proposal,
seniors would pay 75 cents
for each bus ride, Weitzer
said. SMART is picking up
the rest of the tab.
Weitzer is unsure when
the weekly program will
begin. It depends on the in-
terest it generates. "We
don't want to start it up if we
don't have enough people."
Those interested can call
Weitzer at the JCC and

leave their name, telephone
number and address or fill
out one of the Center's
transportation surveys.
Seniors must be 65 years old
and live in West Bloomfield
or Bloomfield townships to
qualify for the service.
SMART has limited the
service to the two townships
because of the proximity to
the JCCenter, Weitzer said.
Routes will be established
once riders have signed up.
Weitzer realizes the
SMART program will leave
seniors in Southfield, Farm-
ington Hills, Farmington
and Oak Park who want
transportation to the Center
out in the cold. Eventually,
Weitzer would like to pro-
vide door-to-door service for
area seniors much like the
transportation offered by the
Jimmy Prentis Morris Jew-
ish Community Center in
Oak Park.
To do so, seniors must fill
out a transportation survey
so Weitzer can document the
need. Otherwise, she can not
get funding for it.
The lack of transportation
to the Center has been an on-
going complaint since the
senior adult program was
added to the West Bloom-
field Center four years ago.
The department had asked
seniors who drive to offer
rides to those who could not,
but the volunteer program
never took off.
Weitzer is exploring op-
tions for the expanded pro-
gram including getting vol-
untary drivers to use one of
the Center's vans to pick up
seniors. ❑

Transportation Services
Help Seniors Get To JPM

While the Maple-Drake Jew-
ish Community Center is
struggling to provide
transportation to senior
citizens, such services are
already available in Oak
Park.
For the past several years,
the Jimmy Prentis Morris
Jewish Community Center
has offered daily shuttle bus
service for those living in
senior apartment complexes
within a mile of the Center,
said Miriam Sandweiss,
senior adult director.
Seniors are taken from the
complex to the Center and
back again.
More than two years ago,
the senior adult department

added a door-to- door
transportation service with
the help of the Jewish Com-
munity Center, the Jewish
Welfare Federation and pri-
vate donors, Sandweiss said.
United Hebrew School
drivers daily use buses and
vans to pick up seniors at
their homes and take them
to the Center. The door-to-
door service helps seniors
living in Southfield, Oak
Park, Berkley and North-
west Detroit who had no
other way of getting to the
Center.
Each week 160 seniors use
either the shuttle bus or
door-to-door service, Sand-
weiss said. ❑

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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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