King County Council donates used vans to Encompass and other non-profits
December 24, 2009
By Laura Geggel
NEW — 4 p.m. Dec. 24, 2009
The King County Council has approved donating 27 retired Metro Vanpool vehicles to provide transportation assistance to local governments, community programs, senior citizens and young adults, including North Bend’s Encompass, a preschool, summer camp, family service center and resource for children with developmental disorders.
“We’re thrilled over here,” said Encompass Director of Program Development Nela Cumming. “We’re planning to use it for our summer camps and fieldtrips and youth programming we’re hoping to start.”
When Cumming called Summer Camp Manager Julie Forslin to tell her the good news, Forslin started screaming with delight, she said.
“This has been a dream for a couple of years now,” Cumming said.
Until now, Encompass has used the Mount Si Senior Center shuttle for transporting children. The van will be made available to Encompass in early January, according to a news release.
The retired vans have been part of Metro Transit’s vanpool fleet for at least six years and have reached the end of their service life. When the vans reach this age, they are considered surplus and sold.
The council approved the donation in a unanimous Dec. 14 vote. County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, who represents Snoqualmie and North Bend, praised the action.
“These retired vans are going to nonprofit organizations that represent the compassion and diversity we have in King County,” Lambert said in a news release. “In District 3, the vans will help meet the transportation needs of low-income families building their own homes with Habitat for Humanity of Redmond, at-risk youth involved in programs with Encompass in North Bend, and school-age children all over King County who participate in the environmental education programs at the Wilderness Awareness School in Duvall.”
Since 1995, the County Council has donated retired Vanpool vehicles to local nonprofits. The groups are then responsible for licensing, insuring and maintaining the vans.
“Extending the useful life of these vans provides many organizations with the mobility options they deserve,” Council Vice Chairwoman Jane Hague, who sponsored the ordinance, said in a release. “Each organization now has a way of getting more people to more places.”
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