Campaign Aims To Buy Gift Cards for Bus Drivers
Crowdfunding campaign looks to raise $15,000 to thank transit employees for keeping things rolling.
If you’d like to show your appreciation to all the bus drivers still driving through this pandemic, consider making a donation.
The Regional Transit Leadership Council, a non-profit that advocates for regional multi-modal transit, started a GoFundMe campaign to purchase gift cards for the more than 800 transit operators working for public transit systems in Milwaukee, Racine and Waukesha counties.
Dave Steele, the council’s executive director, said, “This is a small token of our community’s appreciation of the transit drivers that are out there performing a community service.”
The campaign’s goal is $15,000. This will pay for a $15 to $20 gift card for every transit operator in the region, as a thank you for their service.
Transit operators, like healthcare workers and grocery store clerks, are performing an essential service. And they don’t have the luxury of being able to do it from home.
Steele said this pandemic has illuminated how the transit systems are the lifeblood of the region. “They are essential workers providing an essential service. They’re taking other essential workers to their jobs, taking seniors to the grocery story and medical appointments.
Even before the pandemic, Milwaukee County Transit System operators have been recognized nationally for their excellent work. The GoFundMe campaign, Steele said, is a “Good way to show our appreciation.”
If you can’t donate, please reserve transit space for those that need it most. Not everyone has access to cars, and some of them are essential workers that need buses to get to work, while others need the bus system to get food and healthcare.
“I never thought in a million years that I would be advocating for people not to ride the bus or not to use transit,” Steele said. But maintaining social distancing and only using transit for essential trips is perhaps the most important way you can help transit operators through this difficult period.
Urban Milwaukee president Jeramey Jannene serves on the board of the Regional Transit Leadership Council.
More about the Coronavirus Pandemic
- MHD Release: Milwaukee Health Department Launches COVID-19 Wastewater Testing Dashboard - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Jan 23rd, 2024
- Milwaukee County Announces New Policies Related to COVID-19 Pandemic - County Executive David Crowley - May 9th, 2023
- DHS Details End of Emergency COVID-19 Response - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Apr 26th, 2023
- Milwaukee Health Department Announces Upcoming Changes to COVID-19 Services - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Mar 17th, 2023
- Fitzgerald Applauds Passage of COVID-19 Origin Act - U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald - Mar 10th, 2023
- DHS Expands Free COVID-19 Testing Program - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Feb 10th, 2023
- MKE County: COVID-19 Hospitalizations Rising - Graham Kilmer - Jan 16th, 2023
- Not Enough Getting Bivalent Booster Shots, State Health Officials Warn - Gaby Vinick - Dec 26th, 2022
- Nearly All Wisconsinites Age 6 Months and Older Now Eligible for Updated COVID-19 Vaccine - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Dec 15th, 2022
- City of Milwaukee Bi-Weekly COVID-19 Update - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Dec 9th, 2022
Read more about Coronavirus Pandemic here
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