As the Marmaton Valley school bus came to a stop at the Iola Municipal Pool Thursday afternoon, 42 youngsters and their two adult sponsors eagerly disembarked in anticipation of the cooling waters of the swimming pool.
Each Tuesday and Thursday in June and July volunteer bus driver Larry Manes has made a round trip of about 80 miles to ensure youngsters in Moran, Elsmore and Savonburg could come to the Iola pool.
This is the second year of the program, begun by the Moran Steering Committee, an offshoot of Thrive Allen County.
Manes credited Kathy Ward, committee member, for spearheading the project which buses youngsters to Iola’s pool. Ward approached the school board in Moran to secure a school bus to transport the young people to Iola and also raised funds through donations to pay for diesel fuel for the bus and the cost of bus maintenance on a mile-by-mile basis.
Moran youngsters also helped raise money with a lemonade stand, Manes said.
Last year’s expenses to provide the swim bus in June and July tallied a little less than $500.
“Kathy wanted all kids to have an opportunity to go to the pool and applied for and received a grant from the Southeast Kansas Community Action Program,” Manes said.
The grant pays admission to the pool for youngsters who qualify for reduced school lunch programs.
Parents must sign a permission slip before their child is allowed on the bus. The adult supervisor has a list of who should be on the bus and the child’s name is checked off when he gets on and off the bus.
“We leave it up to the parents as to whether or not their child can ride the bus to the swimming pool. Our only requirement is the child must be able to board and get off the bus by himself,” Manes said.
When the bus left the pool on Thursday it had one final stop in Iola — Dairy Queen.
“We thought we’d give the kids a special treat since it was their last trip to the pool this summer,” Manes said.
Bused to cooling retreat
