Opening more than car doors
ITN is more than a "good cause," it's a necessary one; it's an important one. We do substantially more than providing rides for older people. We're helping to solve a huge social need. Seniors now have an alternative to driving that preserves their independence even as it ensures our roads are safe and our communities are healthy.
By acting as social entrepreneurs and following proven business practices, ITN doesn't have to rely on taxpayer support for operating expenses. In fact, ITN actually helps drive the local economy and build community. The impact to the local business community of one ITN affiliate is between $300,000 and $500,000 per year. By 2010, the expected annual economic impact of ITN affiliates will be as much as twenty million dollars.
Senior Transportation is a complex problem that touches every family in America. In fact, it touches every family in every industrial country in the world. We must think of senior transportation as a lifelong need for which we must plan, just as we plan for retirement or long-term care needs.
ITN builds its community connections one person, one family, one business, one town and one corporation at a time. But for us to continue to support seniors we need continued support.
Our service helps families and friendships endure; adult children minimize their absenteeism from work; businesses remain profitable; and seniors begin a new chapter in their lives that no longer includes loneliness, dependence, burden or immobility.
We always say, a little help goes a long way, but at ITN, it goes even further. The more people that embrace and commit to the program we're building, the more effective and influential the system will be to America, and with hope, the world.