As we are looking to the next year, we are excited about the number of new students and families who are joining our school family. With that great blessing comes some added challenges.
The need: In order to transport our students as safely as possible to field trips and activities, we try to take as few vehicles as possible and transport as many students as we can on our bus. Because our bus is a small one (26 passenger), the larger student population means we have to arrange for more parents to come along to transport students. Statistics show that the more vehicles, the more drivers, the greater possibility for problems such as breakdowns and accidents.
Other issues: Our bus is 20 years old. While we do everything we can to maintain it and keep it running, it has become increasingly difficult just due to the age of the vehicle. While parts are readily available for most old vehicles, it is not necessarily true for these old buses. We have also had several incidents of vandalism of the buses and the vandals have damaged and broken parts that we will have difficulty replacing.
The solution: If we can get a larger bus (72 passenger or larger), we can take all of the elementary (the largest group) in one vehicle. This cuts down significantly on the number of other cars and drivers we need for field trips and activities. A newer bus will be more reliable and have parts available. We are working on a solution to address the vandalism as well.
The plan: The school board has approved a funding campaign to raise adequate funds to purchase a newer, larger bus. In looking around at the used ones available, we can purchase a nice, low miles bus for about $20,000. We are asking you to prayerfully consider how you might be able to help us raise these funds necessary to purchase such a bus for our students. You may be able to make an outright donation to this fund. For example, just 20 families giving $1,000 each would have the money raised. You may be able to do more than that, or even a smaller amount. With 72 seats, the cost of each seat is $275. If you are able to sponsor one seat, it will move us closer to our goal. Every donation will move us forward in the progress toward more reliable transportation for our students. Perhaps you know of someone who you could approach about donating to the project. Maybe you and your children could hold a small fund raiser to raise funds for it. There are a number of ways that you can be part of the solution to our school need.
However you are able to help us meet this need will be greatly appreciated. Please let me know you are praying for this effort and if you are willing to partner with us. If possible, we would like to purchase this bus before school begins this year. We will periodically update you with the graphic above to indicate how close we are to reaching our goal.
UPDATE as of July 11: We are well on our way to new wheels for our students at Faith Christian School. Thanks to many donors who have purchased “seats” on the bus at $275 each, we have raised over $9,000! We have also located a decent used bus for much less than we had originally thought we would need to pay to get a larger, newer bus. So we only need about $2,500 more to move forward on our purchase! That’s just 9 more donors purchasing a seat! Will you help us meet this goal? You can donate directly through our PayPal link below or drop off your check at the office. You can make the wheels on the new FCS bus go round and round by filling the “tank!”
UPDATE as of July 23: We are almost there! We have raised nearly $11,000! If we can get just 2 more seats sponsored at $275 each, we will have our new set of wheels just in time for the school year to begin. Will you help us meet this goal? You can donate directly through our PayPal link below or drop off your check in the office. You can make the wheels on the new FCS bus go round and round by filling the “tank!”
UPDATE: As of August 1: The tank is FULL! Thank you to all who donated. We are so grateful to God for providing for FCS in this way and look forward to sharing pictures of our new bus soon!
You can donate using the PayPal link below.
