By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
At the exact moment many people in Bowling Green were toasting in the new year, volunteers were driving home a young woman too drunk to stand on her own.
Donna Foster spotted the woman downtown being propped up by her friends. So Dennis Gaster swung the van around to go back to offer help.
The woman was too wasted to know what was happening. But her two friends jumped at the chance to get a free ride home to their apartment complex on Napoleon Road.
“You will really take us home for free,” one of her friends asked. “You guys are awesome.”
The three piled into the van, and a plastic garbage bag was pulled out in case the one woman became sick again.
Foster chatted with the passengers – without a hint of judgment.
“You sweet angel,” she said to the drunk woman.
Foster and Gaster offered to take the group to the hospital rather than to their apartment, but they declined. Foster cautioned the friends to not leave their intoxicated roommate alone – and they agreed.
This New Year’s Eve was the sixth time for Foster, and the first for Gaster, to help with the Safe Communities program that offers free rides to people who shouldn’t be driving home themselves.
“It’s nice to take them home and know that they’re safe,” Foster said as she and Gaster headed to their next call.
The calls were coming in quickly after midnight – one person at Domino’s Pizza, three behind Jimmy John’s, four at Taco Bell, two at a laundromat, two behind the library, and another four at Quarter’s Bar.
By the end of the night – around 4 a.m. – the volunteers in van had taken home 83 partiers. The heaviest requests for rides came between 2 and 3 a.m.
The only calls rejected are for people who want to be transported from one party or bar to another.
“Sometimes they want us to take them to a party, but we can’t do that,” Foster said. “We have to get them home safe.”
From their Napoleon Road drop, Foster and Gaster were called to a party on Hunter Court, over in the “bird streets” neighborhood. There they picked up a young couple – the girl with a sparkly New Year’s Eve tiara on her head, and the boy carrying a crockpot.
“Hi guys. Did you have a nice party?” Foster asked, striking up a conversation.
“What’s in the crockpot?” she asked. Buffalo chicken dip, the boy replied.
This was the first year for the couple to use the Safe Communities service.
“We thought it would have taken you longer to get here,” the girl said. “It’s an awesome thing, what you guys are doing.”
The couple was dropped off safely, and the volunteers picked up another student at an apartment complex off Campbell Hill Road. Keegan Gies said he was going to walk home to his apartment on Thurstin Avenue, but then remembered the Safe Communities service.
“I was like, please, yes,” Gies said. “This is very helpful.”
Then they picked up a couple on University Lane, who wanted to get home to Nims Road, north of Bowling Green. That ride got a little messy, when the young woman started getting sick, and her boyfriend was fumbling to get the plastic bag open. Gaster pulled over, and the girl lunged out the van door in time to throw up on the curb.
“I’m sorry,” she kept repeating.
But again, in her non-judgmental tone, Foster comforted her.
“That’s all right. It happens,” Foster said. She gave the girl some water, told her to swish it around in her mouth and spit it out.
They got in the van again, and continued their trip home, with Foster checking on the girl along the route.
“You doing all right, honey,” she asked. “You’re almost home.”
As they dropped off the couple, Foster told the boyfriend, “take care of her.”
He agreed and asked, “Do you guys take tips, by chance?”
No, said Foster, who used to own the drivers education school in Bowling Green and now works as registrar at the Wood County Health Department.
“Getting people home safely and off the roads,” is their reward, she said.
Part of the job is just driving around the downtown bars area, looking for people who may need help.
“Look at all the kids,” Foster said as watched the streams of young people on the downtown sidewalks and parking lots. “You see people stumbling around or leaning against a building.”
Their next stop was a bar downtown, to pick up another tiara-wearing young woman who wanted to get home to her dog.
“What kind of dog do you have,” Foster asked. A mix, the girl said, rattling off the blended breeds. “She sounds so cute,” Foster cooed.
“That means you’re a responsible dog owner,” Foster said, complimenting the woman’s commitment to get home to “Piper.”
The next pickup was at another bar, with a boisterous man carrying a couple containers of “barbecue” to take home.
“I love you guys,” he slurred. “Thank you guys so much. There is no way I could have driven.”
Foster introduced herself and Gaster, but didn’t need to make chitchat, since the man with the barbecue was talking non-stop.
“Dennis you’re the man,” he said, trying to high-five with Gaster. “I appreciate you.”
The next couple dropped off couldn’t get the van door open, but made sure to shake Gaster’s hand.
Then it was back to Taco Bell for another four people. And it went on like that until 4 a.m.
“For the most part, these kids are just out having a good time. And they are really grateful for the ride,” Foster said.
“It’s nice to give back to the community. What a great way to start the new year,” she said.
Plus, New Year’s Eve celebrations just aren’t the same as she ages, Foster added.
“I’m way past the years of drinking. Two drinks and I’m ready to go to sleep.”
Since the weather was mild, Gaster didn’t have to be operating a snowplow for his job at the Wood County complex on East Gypsy Lane Road – so he volunteered to drive the van instead.
“They needed help,” Gaster said. “I get to meet a lot of people – instead of sitting in a truck by myself.”
The Safe Communities ride home program has been in operation the last five New Year’s Eves and St. Patrick’s Days. The program has expanded its limits, and drove people home 10 miles outside Bowling Green.
This year the program suffered from a lack of vehicles – with just two vans loaned to the service, one from the Wood County Committee on Aging and the other from Thayer Chevrolet.
And there were a lot of calls for rides that didn’t materialize – when the vans show up and the partiers were no longer there.
“Most of these kids are pretty patient, but sometimes we get there and they’re just not there,” Foster said.
Sandy Wiechman, head of the Safe Communities program, said the ride home service would have benefited from more vans this year. There are some years when she can’t find enough volunteers and other years when she can’t secure enough vans.
“This is a great service, but we need more resources,” she said.
And despite testing ahead of time, the volunteers answering the calls at the hospital had radio difficulties and were bombarded with calls.
“It’s never glitch-free,” Wiechman said. “You overcome what you can.”
Wiechman said she finally got to bed around 6 a.m. on New Year’s Day.
“I just heard on the radio that it’s National Hangover Day,” she said later in the day. “And I thought – yeah, and I didn’t even drink.” But Wiechman can’t think of a better way to bring in the new year, than getting people home safely.
