A SMALL family business has donated $3500 to the city’s Radiation Bus, covering half a $7,000 funding shortfall faced by the service, following changes to legislation by the State Government.
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Di and Mick Canham, owners of Canham Pest Management, said they “wanted to help” after hearing the plight of the service.
This week, Bathurst Community Transport told how its Radiation Bus would suffer a $7000 funding loss after a change in State Government legislation placed a levy on patients using the service.
The Radiation Bus transports up to 11 patients from Bathurst to Orange Base Hospital nine days a fortnight, enabling them to undergo treatment for cancer.
Those using the service pay a $5 contribution fee, which in the last financial year amounted to just over $7000 in funds used to keep the service going.
However, the change in legislation has seen all Community Transport Organisations in NSW being placed under the Passenger Transport Act, and with that Bathurst Community Transport is expected to pay a levy of $2.20 including GST from the $5 contribution people are paying to access the service.
Along with paying the levy, Bathurst Community Transport would also have to make detailed reports on all trips, something the largely volunteer organisation simply doesn’t have the resources to do.
Executive officer with Bathurst Community Transport, Leonie Schumacher, said the service has no other option but run the service free, and somehow absorb a loss of around $7,000 per financial year, while keeping the service running.
News of the shortfall struck a chord with Di and Mick Canham, a husband and wife team who own Canham’s Pest Management in Bathurst.
Both Di and Mick lost parents to cancer and they wanted to do something to help. They loved the idea not only of the bus, but also the way its users bond with one another.
“Before Mick’s dad died, he had to travel and stay in Sydney alone while he had his treatment,” Di said.
“We believe in supporting local and giving back to the community and we can’t think of a better organisation to help,” she said.
Leonie Schumacher from Bathurst Community Transport said she was gobsmacked by the donation.
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