NEKAAA services may expand here

After a little more than a year of offering general transportation services here in Jackson County, the Northeast Kansas Area on Aging (NEKAAA) is looking to expand.

Karen Wilson, NEKAAA executive director, and Justina Cockerham, NEKAAA transit coordinator, met with the Jackson County Commissioners on Monday to ask for their support as they seek an estimated $700,000 in grant funds to build a new transportation facility in Holton. 

“We’re running two vans full time, and we’re still turning down rides daily,” Wilson said. “We’re trying to keep up.”

On Dec. 18, 2019, NEKAAA began offering fee-based general public transportation services in Jackson County.

Wilson said NEKAAA currently rents space from KANZA Mental Health Center in Holton for the two vans but that they are looking at expanding. NEKAAA employs three drivers, two full time and one part time.

The women said they plan to submit a grant application to the Kansas Department of Transportation as parts of its Access, Innovations and Collaboration program to build a transportation facility in Holton, which would include bays for four vans and two offices for drivers to utilize between appointments.

“We’ve already submitted a letter of intent to apply for the program,” Wilson said. “In an ideal world, we’d be able fund it all on grants.”

The program requires a 20 percent match, and Wilson said, if funds are awarded, she and Cockerman would seek additional grants and other donations before asking the county for funds. Right now, the women are just seeking a letter of support for the project from the commission. 

General transportation services are open to any Jackson County resident through NEKAAA. The transportation service is available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, with mileage rates starting from the NEKAAA office in Holton. 

“We cut back for two weeks at the beginning of COVID-19, but we never quit,” Cockerham said. “We’ve been so busy. We’re taking a lot of people to Topeka for appointments. It’s crazy. We’ve been denying rides.”

To read the rest of the article, subscribe to The Holton Recorder.