May 2021

May 2021
Here to Help

With emergency measures in place, many of us are looking back at the past year. While it’s not easy to shift back into lockdown, if we work together and support each other, we’ll get through this faster than ever.

In the mean time, the East Hants & Area Community Rider is still on the road for essential travel, the Elmsdale Community Garden is growing, and the East Hants Community Learning Association is available over the phone or digitally to help with booking vaccines or to connect you with the resources you need to get through the next few weeks.

Please reach out if there’s anything we can do to help you. The needs of the community are our priority and the more feedback we receive, the better we can fill in the gaps that exist.

For more information on programs and services:
e-mail: communications@communityrider.com
phone: 902-883-1608

Fare Assistance Program

Do you know someone that struggles to afford the cost of transportation? The Fare Assistance Program is open to anyone who is low income or faces financial barriers to access transportation.

Rates for this program are between $5 and $10, depending on your region. For a complete regional breakdown, please visit our website: easthantslearning.com/fare-assistance-program/.

Please spread the word about this program. We want everyone that struggles financially in our area to be able to access transportation.

For more information or to book a ride:
e-mail: dispatch@communityrider.com
phone: 902-883-4716

Elmsdale Community Garden
is growing!

If you live in the Elmsdale area and are looking for an outing, why not drop by the Elmsdale Community Garden? The garlic is growing and we’ve got a cold frame on top of one of the garden boxes full of fresh, leafy greens. They are free to harvest for anyone who is interested. Please let us know if you have any – we track numbers fed by the garden each year to show our funders the impact the garden has on the community.

Keep an eye on the Elmdale Community Garden‘s Facebook page. There will be plenty of programming to enjoy in the weeks and months ahead.

Any questions about the garden? Get in touch:
e-mail: elmsdalecommunitygarden@gmail.com
phone: 902-883-1608

New Meals in the
Community Freezer
The Community Freezer has been very popular in recent weeks and we’ve been a variety of food for it. Our newest selection includes:
  • Sweet and Sour Pork with Rice
  • Mac & Cheese
  • Taco Soup
This is a free source of frozen food, available to anyone in the community. Meals are available for pick-up by appointment at our office (224 Highway 214 in Elmsdale) or delivery through the East Hants & Area Community Rider.

If you or someone you know needs a pick-me-up, or simply a change from the same old recipes, give us a call at 902-883-4716 between 8 AM and 2 PM on weekdays and we’ll set aside some delicious food. 

For more information on the Community Freezer, check out our Facebook page.
Medical Transportation Program
Transportation can be just as expensive as treatment in our medical system. We at the Community Rider try to keep costs as affordable as possible, but even then, it can be difficult to cover the costs, especially with monthly or weekly treatments.

Thanks to a generous donation, we are now able to subsidize or cover the costs of transportation for medical services for those that identify a financial need. This subsidy will be available until the donation has been used up.

To help extend the life of the subsidy, we encourage passengers to apply for other programs that subsidize travel, as well as pay a small amount per trip if possible. Every dollar counts to help those in need to be able to access the medical services they need.

If you know someone that struggles to find transportation to medical appointments, please get in touch:
e-mail: dispatch@communityrider.com
phone: 902-883-4716

Endless Entertainment on the Internet
This month’s recommendation:

While we are on lockdown, the world can seem a little smaller. To change this, I have a range of YouTubers I watch to explore places I can’t go right now.

Bald and Bankrupt – Benjamin is a man from Brighton, England who travels around the world. He’s particularly fascinated with the former Soviet Union and travels affordably through these countries, meeting people and showcasing what makes them unique. He also has a channel with shorter videos called Daily Bald.

GeoWizard – Tom is a lad from the United Kingdom that specializes in Straight Line missions. This requires him to leap over fences, wade through bogs and slide down mountainsides rather than travel around obstacles. He’s held missions across Wales and Norway and has explored plenty of other places in his journeys. He’s also a master of GeoGuessr, a game where you explore your surroundings to pin the location on the world map.

Geography Now – Paul Barbato and his team of fun-loving friends are making videos about each country in alphabetical order. He started in 2014 and still has 30 countries to go. He looks at the land, the cities, the people and much more.

Hope you will check out these channels and continue to learn more about the world. We’ll be able to explore it again some day.

Thank you for reading. See you next month!

Phil Laven
Communications Manager
East Hants & Area Community Rider
communications@communityrider.com
(902) 883-1608