Since the closure of the foodmarket, post office and Clinton Bus Services in Clinton in late February, it has become harder for elderly residents in Clinton to buy food or post parcels.
Clinton Senior Citizens Club treasurer Barbara Blair said although there was a service station and a cafe/takeaway shop in Clinton, people had to travel to Gore or Balclutha to post parcels or go to a dedicated food store.
She said that was hard for most of the 34 members of the club as many did not have a vehicle or driver's licence and they used bus companies to transport them.
‘‘A lot of our members are deaf, blind, stroke victims [or] have arthritis,'' she said.
Mrs Blair said the club had previously chartered buses from Clinton Bus Services and went on seven or eight social and cultural trips a year.
But the higher cost of hiring a bus from Ritchies Coachlines (which now operated instead of Clinton Bus Services) meant the club could only go on three or four trips a year for the same amount of money, let alone go to Balclutha or Gore to post parcels or shopping, she said.
‘‘We had to think outside the box,'' she said.
At the start of last month, the Clinton Senior Citizens Club members said enough was enough and decided to buy one of the remaining buses not sold by Clinton Bus Services when it closed.
‘‘We saw the ‘For Sale' sign on the bus and we looked longingly at it and thought ‘why not give it a go and buy it?','' Mrs Blair said.
Clinton Senior Citizens Club president Marian Smith said the club sent out about 90 letters to selected people and businesses in the area and the response had been tremendous.
The club has raised more than $4500 of the $15,000 needed to buy the bus in just one month. ‘‘Most people think it will be a real asset for the community,'' Mrs Blair said.
One local businessman gave $1000 and two farmers have pledged the profit from several lambs sent to the freezing works.
‘‘It's like throwing a pebble into a pond and seeing the ripples,'' she said.
- By Tim Buckingham
