Keeping e-Wheels Free Wheeling

The Pitch

Problem statement

Since autumn 2015 Harbury e-Wheels has been providing free transport to people in need referred to us. Each Monday we also take a full car of groceries donated by the village to the Food Bank. During 2021 we delivered around 4.5 tonnes of groceries to the local food bank hub. Since December 2022 donations delivered have continued to fill the boot and back seat of the car each week. Volunteer driving hours amount to between 65 and 100 hrs a month, covering 800 to 1000 miles in two electric cars. There will always be problems of isolation, cost of living and poor transport provision here. This year our cars are due for replacement and our electricity costs have increased considerably.

Solution

Our solution is to provide free volunteer transport, with no cost either to the passenger or the referring organisation, using two electric cars. This latter element is important to us as we don't want to contribute to air pollution and carbon emissions whilst helping the community. Harbury e-Wheels provides a flexible door to door service for those that really need it from an area of 15 miles radius of the village centre. This takes in a number of local towns as well as villages, some of which have no transport links now. Funding will be spent on covering some of the cost of car rental, insurance and energy. We have no office or paid admin costs.

Why are we best placed to deliver?

We have been in operation for over 8 years with a growing body of volunteers and gained the Queens' Award for Voluntary Service in 2022. All new volunteers are trained and we have a full set of policies and guidance notes, a comprehensive risk register and cyber security guidance. Many of the original volunteers and Board members are still with the organisation and so have a long experience of delivering. In our busiest year we delivered nearly 1600 driving hours and covered 17,000 miles. We have managed with events, donations and trust fund support to fund free travel since the start, an achievement in itself.

Focus Areas

Delivery plan

Budget breakdown

Beneficiaries

100 people

Expected impact

The main beneficiaries of Harbury e-Wheels free service fall into two categories, the elderly and young families on low incomes. We collect from addresses within 15 miles of the centre of Harbury and will drive up to 60 miles on a single journey or more at the discretion of the driver. We receive referrals from medical and dental surgeries, mental health charities, family support services, Citizens Advice and charities supporting the elderly. We enable social agencies and health professionals to carry out their work effectively for disadvantaged patients and help isolated people attend social events. We have over 200 people registered with us and many others come to us for a single or multiple lifts to receive a programme of care, attend a course or on occasions to attend court. We delivered enough food to the Fosseway Food Banks between April 2020 and March 2021 to feed 480 people for 3 days.

Track record

‘I just wanted to thank you for accommodating our request on very short notice last Friday.  This was very much appreciated and relieved a lot of additional stress for the parent.’ - Southam Children’s Centre, October 2016 ‘It’s such a shame that other areas don’t have the amazing facility that you provide.’ - St Wulfstan Surgery, Southam, March 2018 ‘I can’t thank you enough for your time and energy in supporting this client. She was over the moon when I told her you had managed to pull something out of the bag at such short notice.’ - P3, August 2018 ‘I'd like to thank you very much indeed for what you've done for Mum over the last couple of years; I've very much appreciated your reliability and willingness to help' - Wendy, Lighthorne, Mar 2021 'Many thanks for arranging this. I really appreciate all you are doing and have done to help me with my chemotherapy appointments. - June 2022