A community is often judged by how it treats its older adults, and the staff and volunteers of Wilson Rides Inc. work hard to make sure Lebanon and Wilson County rise above all expectations. Founded in April 2020, Wilson Rides serves older adults ages 55 and up in Watertown, Lebanon, Mount Juliet, Old Hickory, and all the spaces in the county between. Its mission is to preserve older adults’ community and quality of life while providing access to affordable and assisted transportation.
Wilson Rides takes a holistic approach to its mission, Executive Director Gaye Lynn Wilson said, offering its users more than just transportation. Two community dinners are offered every year at Easter and Thanksgiving, both as a way to thank the volunteer drivers and as a way for riders to get a good community meal. Wilson Rides works with the Mt. Juliet Breakfast Rotary Club to put on Sips & Sounds at the end of every summer, an event that offers live music, food, a silent auction, and other activities. Wilson Rides also partners with churches to send holiday cards, with Lebanon and Mt. Juliet Noon Rotary Clubs to offer Easter gift bags to community members in assisted living, and with Lebanon’s Home Instead Senior Care to give Christmas gifts to older adults who may not have family in town. Their work alongside the Wilson County Mayor’s Office has helped the county become an AARP certified age-friendly community.
“We try to enrich the lives of our older adults in the community by more than just giving a ride to a doctor’s appointment because that in itself can get uninspiring,” Wilson said. “If all you ever did to get out of your house were to go to a doctor’s appointment, your life would not be as enriched as it is with all the other things that we offer.”
One of the most unique projects Wilson Rides has begun is “Story Time with Wilson Rides,” a podcast series focusing on the remarkable stories older adults have to tell. Last year, a partnership with Leader ship Lincoln helped record Season 2. Wilson said the podcast was inspired by the conversations they had during rides.
“They had some great stories to tell about their lives in the ’30s and the ’40s and the ’50s,” Wilson said. “They’ve shared with us what the different buildings used to be within Wilson County – those that have been torn down or still stand. We’ve just learned a lot from our older adults. They are a piece of history that we’re trying to preserve.”
Wilson Rides does great things, and its founders have worked hard to make the nonprofit successful. The program began as a conversation between Home Instead franchise owner Maggie Lea and Wilson County Mayor Randall Hutto, who had noticed a need for older adults to have transportation in the county. Together, they created a task force to establish the nonprofit. That task force became Wilson Rides’ first board of directors, and they received a grant in 2020 to help get the program started.
“There are other public and private transportation opportunities; they can’t possibly service everyone, and neither can we, but we are all filling a gap and a need in these older adults’ lives,” Wilson said.
COVID-19 put all those plans off for months until, in February 2021, Wilson was hired with only three months to get the program running before the grant expired. Wilson Rides began with just one rider and one driver in May. Now, the number of volunteers is in the 60s, with around 125 riders taking advantage of the program. Everyone is benefiting, Wilson said, from the older adults who can keep medical appointments, shop, and take pets to the vet to the volunteer drivers who visit with and learn from those they drive.
“I have seen a tremendous change in all of those folks’ lives,” Wilson said. “All of their spirits have lifted – the volunteers and the riders.”
As Wilson Rides continues to grow, Wilson hopes the other programs within it will grow and expand as well. To do that, however, the program needs volunteer drivers. Those drivers get to pick the day, the time, and the person that they drive, and Wilson Rides only asks for one or two trips a month. Most volunteers, Wilson said, end up doing more because they enjoy it so much.
“If you are looking for an easy way to volunteer that is very meaningful in your own life, this is one of the ways you can,” Wilson said. “We need to take care of our elders, and this is an easy way in Wilson County to do that.” GN
