Community Partners: A Q&A with Marlyn Graziano of Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society

Kicking off our Community Partners Q&A feature is Marlyn Graziano, Volunteer Board Director of Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society. We asked her five questions. Get to know her and the work Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society does below.

Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society president Bob Smith with patient Pat Zammit.

In two to three sentences, tell us a bit about your organization.
The Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society is a grassroots, all-volunteer charity that has a single purpose:  to provide complimentary rides for Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley cancer patients who need assistance getting to and from their essential treatments.  Our volunteer drivers use their own vehicles to pick patients up at their home, drive them to their designated cancer centre, wait while they have their treatment and then drive them safely back home.  We have more than 480 volunteers either driving or providing support in the background to keep our wheels turning, and in 2024, our drivers logged over 1 million kilometres to serve our patients.

Tell us why support from organizations such as OpenRoad Foundation is important for charities and non-profits?
Charities and non-profits such as VCDS are often founded to help fill a need in our communities – a need that is not funded by any level of government, and therefore can only be addressed by groups of concerned citizens who want to help. The support provided by organizations like OpenRoad Foundation helps fuel that charitable engine, providing the funding charities and non-profits require to create the resources and infrastructure that will fill those needs and support those in our communities who have been left behind.

How did our grant help Volunteer Cancer Drivers?
Our grant from OpenRoad Foundation literally helped keep our drivers on the road, and consequently helped ensure patients got safely to and from their essential cancer treatments.  The funding we received provided more than 1,700 patient trips across our service region.

What's coming up for Volunteer Cancer Drivers (or, what's new)?
As cancer rates continue to grow, we anticipate that the need for our service will also increase. BC Cancer Agency is expanding its services in our region, with two new cancer centres to be constructed in the next five years.  We are actively working to ensure that we can meet the demand through volunteer recruitment and continuous improvement in our service delivery model.

What's your favourite part of working with Volunteer Cancer Drivers?
Two things about VCDS provide me great joy, and they are really two sides of the same coin.  First, is knowing that we are helping people who felt like they had nowhere else to turn. We receive many messages of gratitude, much along the lines of this one: “There was just no way I could have made my appointments at VGH without VCDS, and each and every one of the drivers I have met have been incredibly supportive and all were empathetic enough to realize when I needed someone to listen to me, or when I needed small talk to distract me.”  The other side of that coin is the incredible care and commitment of all our volunteers, who tell us that volunteering with VCDS provides them with great fulfillment and satisfaction.  It is heartwarming to be surrounded by so many people doing so much good.

To learn more about Volunteer Cancer Drivers, please visit volunteercancerdrivers.ca.