A FRONTLINE volunteer group delivering vital medical supplies across Donegal says it will not let rising fuel costs disrupt its lifesaving service.
Shane Laverty, from Lisnennan in Letterkenny, has volunteered with Blood Bike North West for the past five years, transporting blood, plasma, biological samples, breast milk and medical documents to hospitals across the region.
Operating entirely on charitable donations, the group is now dipping into reserves as fuel prices continue to climb.
“Because people have been so good, we haven’t had to go standing with buckets, but it’s getting expensive,” Shane said.
“The price of filling the bike might have been €30. It’s €36 now. If you’re filling those bikes twice or three times a week, and the van the same, that’s going to start eating into a bit of money very quickly.
“The van has gone from an 80 to €100 fill in a couple of weeks.”
The charity, which is not VAT registered, cannot reclaim fuel costs, adding to financial pressure.
Despite this, Mr Laverty says the organisation remains determined to continue providing its service free of charge.
“We don’t want it to affect us, we don’t want that to happen.
“We’ll power on through, but it can affect us, there’s no doubt.
“It takes a good bit of money to run. The fuel bill comes in every month,” he said.
Hospitals
Blood Bike North West supports hospitals including Letterkenny, Altnagelvin, Sligo and the Enniskillen breast milk bank, linking with national teams at Aughnacloy and Tubbercurry.
The group operates nightly from 7pm to 7am during the week and 24 hours at weekends, with a network of 18 volunteer drivers whose phones are “never off”.
Mr Laverty said families often give back through fundraising after receiving help.
“So say we help a child or help the elderly with medications, some of those people will hold fundraisers for us,” he added.
While daytime taxi journeys to Dublin can cost up to €500 with the same kinds of goods in carriage, Blood Bike continues to provide its service entirely free — even as transport costs rise sharply across the board.