At this time of year, as the snow and the ice pile up on the sidewalks, it’s nearly impossible to maneuver your way through town without pulling some Olympic-style acrobatics to stay on your feet.
It’s part of living in a community that celebrates all four seasons.
Summer is the season of hiking, biking and swimming, and winter is the season of slipping and sliding.
To combat the almost inevitable once-a-year hip crushing, hand grating crash to the pavement, some wear ice cleats, while others hop in the car—with heavy duty winter tires—to avoid walking all together.
But, for one segment of our population, both options can be difficult—sometimes even impossible.
Jasper has a large and vibrant seniors community. It’s full of people who love to get out and about and partake in community events. But, for many of them, mobility is a challenge. Walking into town can be difficult on the best of days, but add in the mixture of snow and ice and suddenly the choice to leave the house is—well—no longer a choice.
That’s why the weekly seniors bus is so important. It gives our seniors an opportunity to safely get out of the house each Friday to do their shopping, run errands and visit the doctor’s office. And once a month it also takes them to Hinton for medical appointments at the hospital.
The service is available year-round, but during these treacherous winter months, it’s especially important.
The bus, which is run by the Jasper Seniors Society, has been a part of the community since 1994. But, after a funding cut from the provincial government in 2010 and an end to all funding by 2012, the society is struggling to keep the service alive.
The society knows the bus is an integral service for the town’s seniors and has done everything to ensure it continues, but in recent years that’s meant pulling from the society’s reserves, which are quickly diminishing.
So, the society is now asking the community to step in and take the pressure off the shoulders of the community’s seniors.
Without support, the society will run out of funds in a couple of years, leaving it with no way to continue the service.
It may not be glamorous—donating funds to fill the gas tank and put a driver behind the wheel—but Jasper’s seniors need the help.
We hope the community will see the value provided by the seniors bus and keep it rolling for many years to come.
