Charlotte Dial A Ride

Good morning!! Today I thought I would share a bit of a testimonial of one of our volunteer drivers and Board Chair, Sharon McGladdery, and her feelings about volunteer driving with Charlotte Dial-a-Ride.

"I got involved in Dial-A-Ride with no small amount of hesitation. I had no idea what to expect and came from a background of little/no experience in community volunteerism.
But I was retired and, frankly, climbing the walls looking for what I could do that might be ‘value added to the community’. My friend, John Castell, literally conned me onto the Board of CDAR – “come and sit in” = “welcome aboard”. We are still friends… but it was a close call!!

I took on helping to raise funds for a wheelchair van which necessitated getting volunteer driver clearance. The rest, as they say, is history!

The impact story here is how it opened my eyes and heart to so many wonderful people who I would otherwise never have met. Their stories and lives have both enriched and humbled mine. I have enjoyed mile-a-minute conversations, heartfelt debates from all ages and opinions, as well as the peace respecting passenger silent contemplation (&snoring!).
Volunteer driving is not for everyone. Being an extrovert is an asset – jump into any conversation topic with anyone. Being a listener is also an asset – don’t jump into any conversation topic! If that works for you, it works for our riders more than you can imagine.
Speaking of imagination - can you imagine living in Charlotte County and being unable to drive, or lacking access to an affordable vehicle, or not having friends or family available to give you rides when you need them most? This is what a volunteer driver brings to friends, neighbours, strangers and newcomers. AND their stories are what they bring to the Driver."

Thank you for all you do Sharon!!

Send a message to learn more

Good afternoon folks, we have a favor to ask, if you see a negative post about Dial-a-Ride, before passing judgement, please do your due diligence and verify that it is OUR Charlotte Dial-a-Ride and not somewhere else as there are many, many “dial-a-rides”. I only ask this as a negative post appeared on one of our followers feed and they were concerned, turns out that the post is from a dial-a-ride in Washington State but there was nothing in the post to indicate that. Also, if you have issues with any part of our service, please reach out to us first as FaceBook will not solve any potential issues and make Charlotte Dial-a-Ride better.

The office will be closed and there will be no rides on Wednesday September 30, 2026. We will reopen on Thursday October 1, 2026.

A bit of a follow-up from our morning post, here are some stats from the month of August.

In the month of August, we completed 1022 One-way rides, this averages out to almost 40 one-way rides A DAY.
20 New Members were added along with 1 new volunteer.
Approximately 30,645.5 km were driven in 732 volunteer hours.

As you can see, the "new members" greatly exceed the "new volunteers".

Volunteers
Let’s talk about volunteers for a few minutes. If ever you see our white van, you will notice the words “DRIVEN BY VOLUNTEERS” on the sides. Nothing could be more true, if it were not for volunteers, the two Dial a Ride vehicles, as well as 20 or so other personal vehicles would remain stationary and not roll to meet the needs of our members. Charlotte Dial a Ride would exist in name only and would not function as it does. When our members call for a ride to work, school or to a medical appointment, they would be told, “sorry, we have no drivers today”, hence, no rides. There are only a few very times that this does happen now but it is quite rare and normally due to extenuating circumstances. Thankfully we have dedicated volunteers who use their vehicles and their time to ensure that folks in need of a drive for life’s needs get where they have to go. Ideally, we would never say “sorry” but to achieve that goal, many volunteers are needed, especially if growing demand is to be met. We have volunteers who drive a couple of hours a week right up to some who drive almost full-time, so ANY time makes a huge difference and adds up. All this to say, if you have some time, an hour, a day, a week, to dedicate to those in need of transportation, please give our office a call at 506-466-4444 and they will happily answer any questions you may have. Please feel free to share this post. Have a great day.