“The closest supermarket is 35 minutes on foot,” says Savitra through a Nepali interpreter. “It takes three hours by bus to take my husband to his medical appointments.”
Not that Savitra has anything against walking. One of the things she loves the most about living in Richmond, Virginia, is being outside.
“It’s clean and safe. My children can play outside, and I can take walks without worrying about pollution,” she says without hesitating when she’s asked about her favorite part of living in Richmond.
For the past eight years, Savitra and her family have called the historic American city home. Arriving as a refugee without knowing anyone here, they have built their lives from the ground up. But it hasn’t been without its challenges. Savitra worked as a cleaner at a hotel, but when the coworker who gave her rides moved away, she was left without a way to make it to work. While Richmond’s year-old bus rapid transit system has brought transportation access to tens of thousands of riders, the current service doesn’t reach Savitra’s home or workplace. She couldn’t keep supporting her family unless she could quickly figure out a way to get to work — or find a new job.
That’s when she discovered that she could get rides donated from Lyft through ReEstablish Richmond, an organization that has helped Savitra — and many other new arrivals to America — find their footing in their adopted homeland.
“No matter what group of people we work with, transportation comes up as the biggest barrier,” says ReEstablish Richmond’s Executive Director Kate Ayers. “Our clients want to attend English lessons. They want to go to job training, driving lessons, dental appointments. But they can’t always get there.”
Thanks to ReEstablish Richmond, Savitra took rides to job trainings in downtown Richmond in June, 2019. The class covered a variety of topics that ranged from professional appearance to special skills to help children with disabilities. In addition, she could take Lyft rides to bring her husband to doctor appointments, saving hours on each journey.
Today, Savitra walks to a local YMCA to work as a childcare provider. The new job keeps her close to her three children, and she gets to use her newfound skills while looking after kids, including those with special needs.
“The ultimate goal is self-sufficiency,” says Ayers. “We don’t give rides indefinitely. We build bridges to help people become more independent.”
As for Savitra, she’s been preparing to get a driver’s license. She has a learner’s permit, she says with a chuckle, but she didn’t pass the driving test on her first attempt. She’ll try again — she knows a thing or two about starting over.
ReEstablish Richmond is one of more than 100 recipients of the Lyft Community Grants program this quarter. Lyft awards community organizations in 40 cities up to $20,000 each in Lyft ride credit to assist their work.
You can also read more about Lyft’s new Jobs Access program, which provides job seekers with transportation during training, interviews, and/or the first three weeks of work until the first paycheck. United Way, the USO, Goodwill, and other partners administer the program, and Lyft picks up the tab to pay drivers for the rides. See how you can support the initiative through our Round Up & Donate feature.