Skip to content

Two Maple Ridge drivers needed to help fight cancer

Society provides free rides to therapy to help in battle
10252129_web1_drivers
Former CKNW radio reporter George Garrett and Larry Coleman were in Maple Ridge last spring, also trying to round some volunteer drivers. (THE NEWS/files)

The Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society needs at least two people from the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows area to help those fighting the disease.

“We’re always looking for any help we can get,” said George Garrett.

The society needs the drivers to help people get to their chemotherapy or radiation appointments in either Surrey or at the Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre.

Volunteer drivers can work any day of the week with most signing up for driving two days a week. Fuel costs are reimbursed.

The society needs more drivers, because the number of calls and patients needing therapy keeps climbing. In 2016, 252 rides were provided in the Maple Ridge area. But by the end of Novembe 2017, 410 rides had been provided.

Most patients go to the Abbotsford cancer centre.

The society is also seeking donations to help with costs.

The Canadian Cancer Society stopped a similar program in 2015 because of costs and a shortage of volunteers.