For 45 years, Rossbrook House has provided a safe place for inner city youth ages 6-24 to go after school. As the program grew, the organization provided transportation for kids to go on excursions and then get home safely, but now one of their vans needs replacing.

“As much as we love it and it holds some dear memories, it is coming to near the end of its life,” Rossbrook House Foundation Fund Development Coordinator Stephanie Lambert said about one of their two currently used vans. “So we do need to replace it and of course, as many anyone who’s gone vehicle shopping knows, it’s not an inexpensive venture.”

The organization is asking for donations to fulfill their goal of $50,000 to purchase a new van.

“We are very fortunate to have secured a generous anonymous matching donor who will match gifts [up to] $25,000 to help us raise our goal of $50,000,” Lambert said. “This campaign is running April through May, to hopefully get us to that goal.”

For those who access programming for their families, the safe rides home are extremely important.

“When I was going to school in the evenings, my kids would come and hang out at Rossbrook,” Shannon Allard said. “When I would get home in the evening, they would come shortly after, so and I knew they were getting home safe and they weren’t walking on the streets.”