The Joplin (Mo.) Area Catholic Schools last week received two conventional Type C school buses and one 16- to 20-passenger Type A bus in response to the deadly tornado that leveled the area in May.
John Corr, president and CEO of New York-based contractor Trans Group, donated the buses to help the school system of 400 students ages preschool through 12th grade literally pick up the pieces. The elementary school was completely destroyed in the storm. One student, a 5-year-old girl was killed along with her father and brother when the roof of the local Home Depot store collapsed.
“It was devastating,” said Renee Motazedi, the development director for Joplin Area Catholic Schools.
She added that the used buses – a 1998 International, a 1995 Blue Bird and a 1999 Chevrolet Type A, would be used to take students to and from school activity trips and sporting events. The long-term plan is to also use the buses to create a shuttle service that picks up students at a central location and transports them to the new elementary school, the middle school or high school. The elementary school was temporarily relocated to a warehouse owned by the Catholic school district, and the start of school was delayed three weeks to Sept. 6.
Catholic Charities USA and the Order of Malta, an international Catholic organization, facilitated the donation of buses from Trans Group.
“They knew of Mr. Corr and his generosity because of buses he had given to other schools in New Orleans [after Hurricane Katrina],” she said, adding that Trans Group has also donated school buses to assist in relief efforts in Haiti and in Central America. ”The week before they came to us, they drove some buses down to Birmingham, Ala., and I think Tuscaloosa benefited, too.”
The buses started a 1,300-mile trek from New York at 4 a.m. Eastern time on Aug. 17 and arrived in Joplin at noon on Aug. 19. The school system already has one other 1996 school bus for use on activity trips and for sporting events, but Motazedi said scheduling can be troublesome. High school trips receive seniority, forcing parents to drive students to and from events.
“We’re less than 4 percent Catholic here, so the budget wasn’t there to support buying multiple buses,” she added. “We certainly needed them. For a long time we didn’t have a bus, even. It was a charter, and it was expensive. Now we’re hoping to offer that transportation to outer areas.”
It was all thanks to Trans Group, which offers system management, fleet management, routing design and implementation and vehicle leasing services for more than 50 school districts in eight New York counties. The company also operates more than 1,000 school buses.
“He’s a very generous man, I mean, my gosh,” Motazedi said of Corr. “We incurred no expense whatsoever.”
