A story appeared in last week's paper reporting that the British Columbia Automobile Association is encouraging parents to consider alternate forms of transportation to their cars as their children return to school.

One of the suggestions was to create what they call "Walking School Buses", that parents take shifts walking a consistent route to school at a designated time and picking up children along the way.

The story reminded me of a man Keith Pattinson often talks about in his presentations. Keith is the former Executive Director of the BC Boys and Girls Clubs and the man who brought the Asset Building Program to BC.

In short Asset Building is a program that focuses on encouraging all of us to provide the support network young people need to succeed in life.

Some years ago Keith was at an Asset Building Workshop and found himself sitting beside an 86 year-old man from the United States who, he later learned, was a Walking School Bus "Driver".

This man told Keith that he still lived in the house he was born in which was the farmhouse on the farm that was now the centre point of a thriving suburban community. Living there all those years, he had got to know a lot of the children and their parents as they moved in one family after the next.

As the community grew, the parents decided that they wanted to buy and run their own school bus but after several months of research and many meetings, they finally concluded that the costs were just too prohibitive.

That's when Keith's new friend offered his idea to become a Walking School Bus "Driver" and he had been walking his route every school day for the previous three years carrying a long staff with a flag on it and picking up school kids along the way.

"I got to tell you," he told Keith, "I walk a lot for exercise so I was out every day and said 'hello' to a lot of people, but none of them was what I would call a "friend". I was becoming quite lonely."

Becoming a Walking School Bus "Driver" dramatically changed Keith's friend's life. As time went by, he got to know the kids better and better and their parents too. Soon they became good friends, so loneliness was a thing of the past.

Do you want to guess who began tending his garden and cutting his lawn soon after he started with his new profession? You got it, the Walking School Bus "passengers" and their parents.

Interesting isn't it? The more you give, the more you get back.

Could We Organize Walking School Bus "Drivers" here in Central Vancouver Island?

What a wonderful statement that would make about our various communities, but it would take a bit of effort on the part of a number of people.

We would need some kind of community organization to take charge of the program in each community, of course we would have to arrange police checks for all the "drivers", and there are probably even more things to take into consideration.

That said, after talking to Inspector Jeff Lott of the RCMP and Marjorie Driscoll of Volunteer Nanaimo, it is doable, and it would be a win/win situation for all involved, the children, their parents, and the "drivers", people like Keith's friend.

Seniors come to mind immediately as potential "drivers" but wouldn't this be a great opportunity for high school students to contribute to the community as well?

Let's Do It!

If you are interest in exploring the possibility, several of us are planning a meeting at Volunteer Nanaimo, 529 Wentworth Street, at 5:30 pm on Wednesday October 5. Please call 753-3720 to let us know you will be there.