Staying in touch
Parma-area woman gets involved with the community
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Monday, December 31, 2007 11:12 AM PST
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| Hollie Young, Malheur Council on Aging and Community Services employee, stands among some of the vans used in the transportation service. Young said she enjoys helping people served by the agency. |
ONTARIO - Parma-area resident Hollie Young is back home in the Treasure Valley and has found a special niche working to help people as a staff member of the Malheur Council on Aging and Community Services.
“I lived in Tennessee for 13 years,” Young said.
A year ago, though, she made a change, in order to be closer to her father, who lives in Parma.
“I’m home in Oregon,” she said.
Born in Corvallis, Young lived in Toledo and other towns in Oregon, including Ontario for two years.
“My dad was an electrician, and we moved a lot to find work,” she said.
Young said she enjoys her work at MCOACS.
“It’s great for the community. It makes you feel like you’re doing something for the community,” she said.
Young has been working with Malheur County Transportation Services supervisor Fritz Hallberg during the last year doing the bookkeeping and other paperwork.
She is on hand at a critical time, as Hallberg retires this week, and the transportation service is heading toward providing regularly scheduled bus service along established routes. Hallberg is lobbying for her to take his place.
The plan to provide regularly scheduled bus service has been in the works for several months and has involved The Council on Aging, city and county officials and transportation providers from Idaho.
“It’s basically (about) getting the funding,” Young said, adding Malheur County Transportation will work with the Treasure Valley Transit in Nampa to provide bus services on both sides of the border.
“We’re trying to start the system by July 1. We will still be doing special transportation (the current Dial-A-Ride system) for those who can’t make to a bus stop,” Young said. Young said there will be a need for more staff and there will be more equipment as the scheduled service is added. But, more staff is needed right now, she said. “We can’t get enough staff and vehicles,” she said. “We run short of small vans.”
Also needed are volunteers for trips of more than 70 miles. They are just reimbursed for their gas, Young said.
“The demand (for rides) is pretty high,” she said. Around 99 percent of the ridership is senior citizens and people with disabilities can use the buses if there is space available. The scheduled service will be available to the public. Asked why she picked Malheur Council on Aging and Community Services for a job, Young said situations within her family inspired her to help people in need of extra help.
