Help On Wheels: Chaverim Answers Your Call
This is the article I wrote for Chaverim that appeared in this week'sJewish Home.
You’re ready to go. So you get in your car, turn the key, and the engine doesn’t start. With no other driver around to help you out with jumper cables, what do you do? You dial 718-337-1800
and ask Chaverim for a boost. Day or night, you know there’s someone to call for help.
If you’ve made that call on a Friday some time in the last nine years, it’s likely you’ve talked to me. After using Chaverim’s service a couple of times, I committed to a regular shift as a volunteer dispatcher.
I’m one of 21 in that category. We’re the ones who put your information into the system to get it out to the79 members who will come out to help you get on the road in Far Rockaway, the 5 Towns, Valley Stream, Atlantic Beach, Long Beach, Belle Harbor, Great Neck, and the area around JFK airport.
Residents of and drivers through these neighborhoods generated over 3300 Chaverim calls this year. Most calls -- 1127 --are for help with flats and boosts 1076. We also had 370 car lock outs and 102 house lock outs, as well other help requests like retrieving keys that fell down a sewer or help getting a car unstuck from sand. Chaverim even responds to calls to send a man over to make a minyan!
Most calls get a response in under 20 minutes -- much better than the 45 minutes to 2 hour wait for AAA or other roadside assistance. True, some calls do not get answered. Though we do our best, we can’t guarantee that there will always be a volunteer available at the time of your call.
But we are striving to get the number of responses up. To achieve that goal, we need your help.
If you have the interest and the time to volunteer either as a dispatcher or member, please email
info@chaverim5t.org or check out our website, chaverim5tdispatch.org. Another thing you can
do on the site is click over to the donate page to make a tax-deductible contribution with a credit
card.
Why a does a volunteer organization need to ask for donations? While the labor is free, the equipment needed to help you costs about $500 per member. That’s just to maintain the current level of service.
Now Chaverim wishes to be able to do even more for our community. That’s why we have a wish list that includes the following:
a) Upgrading all our members flat equipment to a 2 ton jack with a high powered impact wrench - cost $15k
b) Air compressors and plug kits - cost $4k
c) Upgrade booster packs - cost $2k
d) Safety vests for all members who don’t yet have them - cost $6k
e) Gloves, stripped lug nut sets, lock picks, and various other types of equipment that members
can use to help people out with their tire changes and locks - cost $5k and up
g) Updates communications and app development for faster, more seamless communication between those who need help and those who will deliver it - cost $10 - 20k
h) When we have enough funds (as in $20-40K) we’d really love to equip a command vehicle
with a winch, industrial air compressor, spot lighting, replacement batteries and spare tires.
You can help Chaverim make these purchases by making a donation directly on the site.
You can also mail a check in to:
CHAVERIM
P.O. Box 701
Lawrence, NY 11516
In addition, you can selecting Chaverim as your charity of choice on Amazon’s Smile program, so that it benefits from your purchases at no extra cost to you.
Help Chaverim do more for you next year and gain a tax deduction for this year by making your
donation before the end of 2018.
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