| Driver Services Vets Helping Vets 2025 - 2024 |
Amount Funded: $2,000.00 |
| The RSVP Vets Helping Vets (VHV) Program aims to match veteran driver volunteers with veterans and their family members (primarily spouses) in need of rides to medical appointments. As veterans themselves, our drivers can relate well to their passengers. If these ride services were not available, many Stoughton veterans would be unable to attend appointments that help them remain healthy and independent. Alternative transportation arrangements, especially to medical appointments in Madison, are expensive from Stoughton. This program is “more than a rideâ€Â. Volunteer drivers escort passengers, lend an arm to those who have trouble walking or negotiating stairs, assist them in and out of a vehicle, find their doctor in a clinic situation and provide safety checks by reporting concerns to established case managers.
In addition to providing a valuable service to veterans, this program provides Stoughton area volunteers with an opportunity to provide meaningful service, helping them to live healthier by being active, contributing members in their community. Each year, RSVP of Dane County organizes and implements two veteran-specific recognition programs, one on Veterans Day and another early in the year at alternating VFW Posts. These events offer guest speakers, veteran-inspired music, meals from local veteran-owned businesses, and giveaways for attendees. RSVP also recognizes and honors the amassed RSVP volunteer team at a formal annual recognition event. This year, the event will be 9/19/24 at Barnwood Events Center. Volunteer and veteran recognition is critical to maintaining our connection to the volunteer and veteran community and maintaining a strong and trusting volunteer corps.
RSVP’s VHV Coordinator also helps to educate and support the veteran community in many ways. She was asked to be a guest speaker at the monthly Veterans Connection meeting at St Pauls Lutheran church on Tuesday 4/30/24 and at the VFW Middleton Post 8216’s Annual Golf Fundraiser for stakeholders and Veteran members at the Pleasant View golf course on 7/12/24. Additionally, this program participates in the annual Wayne D. Horner Memorial Stand Down of Madison, an event that honors and assists homeless veterans in Dane County. RSVP’s VHV Coordinator, is the Stand Down Treasurer and a major contributor to the planning and implementation of this important community event.
In May 2024, a survey was done of 534 passengers receiving service in 2023 and 2024 . 244 older adul |
| Rides for local veterans and/or their spouses are coordinated by both the RSVP Vets Helping Vets Coordinator and by the Stoughton Area Senior Center Ride Coordinator, both of whom utilize RSVP volunteer drivers. Requests for rides come from Dane County Transportation Center, VA Hospital, DAV of Wisconsin, Social Workers from SSM Dean Hospital and Clinic, UW Hospital and Clinics, Unity-Point Meriter Hospital and Clinics, and individual veterans or family members in need of transportation services.
During the period of 10/1/23 through 9/30/24, 19,971 miles were driven by RSVP volunteers in the Stoughton area in the Home Delivered Meals, Vets Helping Vets and Driver Escort Programs. In the Vets Helping Vets Program alone, 1,252 miles were driven for veteran passengers. There are nearly a dozen veteran passengers in Stoughton who rely on RSVP Drivers to take them to crucial medical and therapeutic appointments.
RSVP provided nearly 400 rides for Stoughton passengers during this grant cycle in the Driver Escort Program, 35 of these rides for local veterans in the Vets Helping Vets Program. In the Stoughton Home Delivered Meals Program, almost 11,000 meals were delivered to older adults, veterans and family members. Finally, 1,841 service hours were submitted by volunteers in the Stoughton area in the Home Delivered Meals, Vets Helping Vets and Driver Escort Programs.
This transportation service impacts the lives of Stoughton residents who need reliable transportation, and offers meaningful volunteer opportunities for seniors and veterans who are looking to make an impact in their community and find fulfillment in their day to day lives. Research results from The Mayo Clinic, August 2023, reported that volunteering offers significant health benefits, including improved physical and mental health, increased sense of purpose and life satisfaction, higher self-esteem, accumulation of valuable skills, and opportunities to nurture new and existing relationships through increased social interaction and support systems based on common interests. (Helping People Change Lives, 3 Health Benefits of Volunteering, Angela Thoreson, L.I.C.S.W, Mayo Clinic). Social isolation can be both prevalent and devastating for seniors. However, this can be prevented by being linked with RSVPs ample supply of opportunities for social connection. There are currently 50 volunteer drivers in the Stoughton area.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the Driver Services a |
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