Seniors receive Election Day transportation

Independent Transportation Network Southern Delaware partnered with the Sussex County League of Women Voters to bring seniors and adults with visual impairments to vote in the election Nov. 8. ITN volunteer drivers provided free rides to about 20 registered voters and one seeing-eye dog in Bethany Beach, Ocean View, Gumboro, Georgetown, Milton, Lewes and Rehoboth.

Janis Hanwell, ITN Southern Delaware executive director, said, "This is the first year we have offered this free service to members and others referred to us through our successful partnership with the League of Women Voters. All of the feedback has been positive, and I am sure we will look at doing this again for future general elections."

ITN members pay an annual membership fee and open a rides account to pay for rides to medical appointments, grocery shopping, worship activities, social events and much more. Thanks to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, rides to eye-related appointments are always free to ITN members in good standing. Individuals 55 and older and adults with visual impairments who join by Saturday, Dec. 31, will receive a Legacy Membership and will be locked in at the current annual membership fee for life; $35 for an individual or $60 for a household membership. In January, the annual membership fees will increase to $40 for an individual and $70 for a household. Legacy Members will not be subject to this increase.

Hanwell said that about a third of ITN members still drive at least occasionally, but still call for rides to eye appointments, evening events or on days when they just don't feel like driving – perhaps due to the weather or heavy traffic on the major roads. She said it is important for individuals to join now, so that the nonprofit organization will still be around in the future when the senior population in the area nears 48 percent over the next five years.

For more information, call 302-448-8486 or go to www.itnsoutherndelaware.org.