On Thursday, May 15, local residents loaded into the Senior Center’s new 12-passenger van for a driving history tour around town, led by historian Kevin McGruder. The van extends the center’s Transportation Program offerings, with a village shuttle service to launch June 2. (Lauren "Chuck" Shows)
New Senior Center van to expand programming access
- Published: June 1, 2025
When the Rev. Dr. Wesley Matthews founded the Senior Center in 1959, it was with a view to enhancing the quality of life for local senior residents. A major part of that view, Executive Director Caroline Mullin told the News this week, was transportation.
“That was what Wesley Matthews started the Senior Center for — getting seniors to their medical appointments,” she said.
Nearly 66 years later, Matthews’ vision endures at the Senior Center, with its Transportation Program a vital part of the center’s offerings. Now the program is beginning to expand with the addition of a new 12-passenger van to its fleet of vehicles.
Led by Transportation Manager Robert Libecap, several dozen volunteers work weekly to ferry local seniors to medical and social service appointments, to the grocery store and to Senior Center programs. With the addition of the new van, Libecap said, the Senior Center aims to create an inner-village shuttle service that will help get folks not only to the Senior Center, but other locations around town.
“We have a community of approaching 4,000 folks; nearly 43% of them are over 50,” Libecap said. “There are a lot of folks who come down to the Senior Center every single day for activities, for lunches and social gatherings.”
“There were 16,000 visits to the Senior Center in 2024,” Mullin added.
“And those visitors are finding their way to us with only two accessible parking places in [Kieth’s Alley],” Libecap said. “We think the shuttle should play a role in helping people get here and out and not worry about parking or congestion downtown.”
The $63,000 van was funded by the Greene County Council on Aging’s levy funding, by individual community donors and by an anonymous donor who contributed a large financial gift.
“We would not have been able to buy this van without this amazing anonymous donor who paid enough for us to get more than we expected,” Mullin said.
Beginning Monday, June 2, the Senior Center will roll out the pilot phase of its shuttle service; at present, the shuttle is slated to run Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. Among the stops under consideration on the shuttle’s circuit are the Bryan Center, the library, the Wellness Center, Friends Care, Community Physicians and the village’s commercial districts.
The shuttle will be available to those 18 and older, and during the pilot phase, rides will be free, though there will likely be a cost associated with rides in the future in order to maintain the service.
Mullin noted that the Senior Center has already utilized the van for several shuttle “loose trial runs,” stopping at the community gathering space at Lawson Place to bring folks to the weekly free “Who’s Hungry?” meals orchestrated by Carl Moore and Jim Zehner at MAZU.
“One of the real focal points is making sure we connect people with food and other services they need,” Mullin said.
The van will also be used to help expand access to the Senior Center’s out-of-town social programming; Activities and Volunteer Coordinator Maggie Dean said the center’s monthly first-Tuesday “Brunch Bunch” outings to Miami Valley eateries began using the van early this month on a trip to Linh’s Bistro in Dayton. Typically, “Brunch Bunch” attendees meet up in the parking lot at the Bryan Center and carpool together in separate cars — but it can be a challenge, she said, to coordinate who among attendees will drive.
“Having the van alleviates that issue of trying to figure out who’s going to drive,” Dean said. “Sometimes people have driven when they didn’t really want to be the driver, so this helps take that stress away.”
And the van opens up possibilities for new kinds of events, too: On a warm and sunny day last week, 11 local residents — and one reporter — filed into the white van which, at present, bears only the Senior Center’s logo; in the future, it will be decked with a colorful design of cheerful daisies on a bright blue field, created by artist Nancy Mellon.
As the van wove its way through and around the village, historian Kevin McGruder gave a wide-ranging tour that pointed out and contextualized sites of interest to the past, present and future of Yellow Springs: the buildings of Antioch College, the homes of Omar Circle, the historical names on headstones in Glen Forest Cemetery, the in-progress Spring Meadows neighborhood, and many others.
Antioch College’s Dr. Kevin McGruder led a local history tour from the passenger seat of the Senior Center’s new van. (Photo by Lauren “Chuck” Shows)
It was a tour that, on foot, would likely have taken several hours to complete. By van, passengers were treated to a wealth of local history, lively discussion and connection with their seat mates — all within about 75 minutes.
“That’s what the shuttle is about — helping neighbors connect and be part of life more easily, and have fun with it,” Libecap said.
The shuttle van will also be a crucial asset to the Senior Center, Mullin said, when the center eventually moves to its new location near Antioch College.
“When we have our new building, we need people to feel comfortable that they can still pop downtown for things and come back to the Senior Center,” she said.
As the Senior Center navigates the logistics of the new service, Mullin stressed that the van will not replace the Transportation Program’s already established services, which have seen increased use since 2020.
“It’s an enhancement; it’s augmenting the services we already provide,” Mullin said, adding that the Senior Center is also exploring ways to collaborate with other local organizations on the use of the van.
And the shuttle service itself is likely to be augmented as the Senior Center discovers during the pilot phase what needs the service can best fill. To that end, the Senior Center has established a web page with a link to a survey, which folks are encouraged to fill out ahead of the June 2 launch and beyond, at ysseniors.org/survey.html.
Among the data sought in the survey are common transportation challenges, village events and locations that would be useful for shuttle routes, frequency of ride needs and how much folks would be willing to pay for rides.
“We really want that feedback,” Libecap said. “But we believe — just like in that baseball movie — that if we build it, then people will come.”
Mullin said the Transportation Program as a whole helps address the often difficult transition away from driving that many seniors make. Providing means to not only get to basic services, but also to build community by connecting with friends and neighbors, is indispensable, she said.
“There’s so much mounting evidence about socialization correlated to health and longevity,” she said.
And the shuttle service, Libecap added, aims to stay true to the heart of the center’s values, as established by Wesley Matthews.
“It’s our mission statement,” he said. “‘To enhance the dignity and quality of life for seniors in Yellow Springs and Miami Township and to foster interaction among them with the total community.’”
For more information on the Senior Center’s shuttle service, and to fill out the survey, go to http://www.ysseniors.org/shuttle.html.
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