Photos by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Jerry Over, a driver for Bedford Ride, records the mileage on his odometer during his shift. Over is one of about 160 volunteers who work for the organization, which provides free transportation to nonemergency medical appointments for elderly, disabled and low-income residents of Bedford and Bedford County. The city and the state have cut their funding to the organization, which operates on a $180,000 annual budget.

Jerry Over (right) holds the hand of James Bishop, who is being driven home from his dialysis as part of the Bedford Ride nonprofit. A grant from the Virginia Health Care Foundation was used to start Bedford Ride in 2001, and now that the startup money is gone, the nonprofit faces the challenge of trying to operate amid state budget cuts that have filtered down to the local level.

Larry McMillion depends on volunteers from Bedford Ride to pick him up at his Moneta home three days a week and take him to kidney dialysis in Bedford.

Getting there would be a major hurdle for the 67-year-old if not for the nonprofit organization that provides free transportation to nonemergency medical appointments for elderly, disabled and low-income residents of Bedford and Bedford County.

"I don't know what I would do without them," McMillion said. "My wife works, and my stepson works, and I don't drive."

Bedford Ride is just one of a number of programs, though, that is feeling the impact of the struggling economy and governmental budget reductions. Because the organization already operates on a razor thin $180,000 annual budget, any cut stings. And Bedford Ride is like many smaller community organizations of its type, too, in that it provides a steady service while relying on several governmental funding arms that are all now feeling the effects of the economic downswing. Last year, Bedford Ride carried 315 passengers more than 180,000 miles.

But for the organization itself, it's been a bumpy ride over the past few months:

n Gov. Tim Kaine's round of deep budget cuts in October reduced its one-time state appropriation from $76,000 to about $68,000.

n The city of Bedford gave the program $15,000 last year but cut that funding to $7,665 for the current fiscal year. And the outlook for the next fiscal year is bleak. Because a possible reversion is in the works in which the city would revert to a town, Bedford Ride's executive director Ira Doom said he does not anticipate any aid from the city.

n Bedford County gave $50,000 to Bedford Ride in the current fiscal year. As budget planning season approaches, Bedford County Administrator Kathleen Guzi said she has advised the county's board of supervisors to consider how funding to area nonprofit groups will be affected by the extremely limited streams of new revenue.

Dwindling support from local government could be a death knell for organizations such as Bedford Ride, said Donna Proctor, executive director of the Bedford Community Health Foundation.

The Health Foundation secured a $370,000 grant from the Virginia Health Care Foundation in 2001 to start Bedford Ride. Seven years later, the startup money is gone and securing funding is a challenge in light of state budget cuts that trickle down into localities' checkbooks.

After the initial grant phase "the hope is your community can come up with funds to keep it going. In actuality that rarely happens," Proctor said.

Instead programs either are left to hop from grant to grant or to rely on state and federal dollars.

"Our main source of funding is the appropriation from the state," Doom said. "What we have to do is watch and see and anticipate. What methods do we use if the appropriations were to stop? So far I have not come up with anything magical."

There is not much fat to trim from the organization's budget. Except for two paid personnel, Bedford Ride runs on volunteers --160 of them.

Bedford Ride's annual budget is administered by the Lynchburg-based Central Virginia Area Agency on Aging.

Doom sought financial assistance from local and regional foundations to make up for the state's cut. He said he is confident between those contributions and the dip in gasoline prices, Bedford Ride will be OK this year.

Doom said he would solicit community support before resorting to operational cuts.

"What we don't want to cut is the service," he said.

Doom and Linda Brake, operations manager at Bedford Ride's office in Bedford Memorial Hospital, are the only paid staff. The organization hinges on volunteers spread all over the Bedford area who maintain the fleet, dispatch drivers and transport riders.

When a client needs a ride, he or she contacts Brake at least two days in advance of the appointment. She then distributes the client's information to a dispatcher in the appropriate geographic district who lines up a driver.

Bedford Ride has a fleet of 22 cars -- some are retired sheriff's department vehicles -- and handicapped-accessible vans, which are parked throughout the Bedford area. Riders are transported to Bedford, Roanoke, Lynchburg, Charlottesville and elsewhere for dialysis, chemotherapy, doctor appointments or other medical procedures.

"It is necessary for the preventative care," Doom said. "These people don't have any way to get there. Medicaid takes care of Medicaid people [by providing transportation for them] and we take care of the rest."

Bedford Ride was modeled after Medride, which provides comparable medical transportation in the New River Valley, said Medride's project coordinator Peggy Akers.

While Medride operates on a much smaller scale -- 22 volunteers drive personal vehicles and receive mileage reimbursement -- it receives no state or local funding. Akers said Medride is funded by grants and is supported by area United Way chapters.

In the Roanoke area, transportation for people with physical and mental disabilities is provided by Radar Transit at varying costs to passengers. Trips are not limited to medical appointments and the drivers are not volunteers. Executive Director Curtis Andrews said the program receives federal, state and local funding.

On the Net: www.bedfordride.org