KERMIT — Christian Help Transit Service has been awarded a $75,000 grant by the Logan Healthcare Foundation. The service is a free, on-demand transit for low-income residents of Mingo County. It is a program of Christian Help of Mingo County, a nonprofit agency based in Kermit.

“This generous grant will help us help a lot of people get to doctors appointments and other important places. Sometimes these are folks who don’t have any other way of getting places,” said Ruth Newsome, dispatcher for the transit service. Newsome said the grant will fund salaries for drivers, gasoline purchases, and van maintenance.

The transit service has two to three drivers on the road throughout the day every weekday, bringing people to and from medical appointments, as well as other necessary destinations. Besides doctors offices, other common destinations include pharmacies, grocery stores, and the offices of WIC, the DHHR, and Social Security.

In 2009, the Transit Service made 9,172 trips. The service was used by 380 individuals during the year. Transit drivers covered 90, 023 miles.

People must call at least 24 hours, or preferably sooner, before the needed ride. Newsome takes their information, schedules the ride, and works out the schedule each day for the services two drivers. Sometimes she also takes to the road in a third transit van when need is especially high.

“A quarter of the residents of Mingo County live under the poverty level. Thirteen percent are elderly, and thirty-two percent have some kind of disability. That creates an enormous need for a service like ours,” said Barry Hudock, director of Christian Help.

Hudock said the cost of running the program increases each year. He estimates it will cost the agency $125,000 in 2010.

Christian Help founded the transit service in 2000, in response to an acute need for an on-demand transportation system for low-income residents of Mingo County. Until 2008, there was no public transportation system in the county. Christian Help Transit Service remains the county’s only demand-response transit.

Christian Help of Mingo County is a nonprofit agency that is not affiliated with any church or other group. Its mission is to respond to situations of emergency or need with immediacy and simplicity, respecting the dignity it all, in the spirit of Jesus Christ.

The agency was founded in 1994 by Sr. Brendan Conlon. Conlon retired at the end of 2009 at 82.