Frontenac Transportation Service finds a way to help out during lockdown

May 06, 2020

Many of the regular drives that Frontenac Transportation Services (FTS) has been providing for residents of Frontenac County week in and week out for years, to medical appointments, for shopping and to social programs, abruptly stopped when the COVID-19 lockdown started in mid March.

At the same time, a number of the regular volunteer drivers, stopped being available because they are older and in a higher risk group.

Pretty quickly, Gail Young and Niki Gowdy, who run the dispatch centre for FTS, realised that there was a whole new need in the community, getting food to people who needed it. At the same time, the retail business community in Central Frontenac were facing a new challenge for them. Restaurants, facing severe consequences as their dining rooms had to close, saw a need to deliver meals, particularly to customers who were no longer in a position to travel to their door. Pharmacies and food stores also saw the need to get their products to customers who were shut in.

And Rural Frontenac Community Services, the parent agency which oversees FTS, was facing an increased demand for its fresh and frozen meals on wheels services, which quickly bumped up to three days a week.

Frontenac Transportation Services, and its drivers, have stepped into the breach. In order to help out both the business community and the vulnerable population, FTS has been delivering food and medicine, free of charge, throughout Central Frontenac and into North Frontenac and parts of South Frontenac as well.

“Our drivers, who normally receive mileage payments to cover operating costs on their vehicles, are taking a lower amount as well as donating their time, in order for us ton provide this free service,” said Gail Young.

Volunteer groups, including the Sharbot Lake and Rural Frontenac COVID-19 Support Group, which is putting on a virtual Mother’s Day Dinner for 200 this Sunday, are using FTS to provide free delivery for their Mother’s Day Indian Dinner.

“It is surprising how busy we have been throughout this period,” said Young, “we are almost as busy as normal, almost as busy as we usually are. Much of it is from the extra meals on wheels, and some from deliveries and special events.”

One of those events was a Spaghetti Dinner to benefit the food bank that was prepared by the Sharbot Lake Country Inn a couple of weeks ago.

“Three drivers did those deliveries,” said Gail Young. “We were glad to help out.”

The North Frontenac Food Bank has also been able to offer delivery for the first time, thanks to FTS.

“We step in whenever we can. The whole community has done the same thing. We need to look after each other,” she said.