The Safi family arrived in April 2018 and shortly thereafter, a long-time IRC Wichita volunteer, Wizie Eads, became a family mentor. That spring, Wizie and her husband Darwin were spending time with the family when they learned that one member, Shamsuddin (Shams) was walking 4 miles a day to take one of his children to school.

Wizie explains, "This was a problem because by the time he returned, often he was too late to catch the bus to IRC to attend English class and receive other necessary services." 

The Safi home is about two miles from the elementary school, shy of the 2.5 mile distance required for the school district to provide bus service.  In fact, many families living in the complex were faced with this issue. Since there were only three weeks left in the school-year, Wizie and Darwin became the “bus service” but when school resumed in August, the families were once again faced with no bus service.

 Being a family mentor, Wizie was witness to the impact of the bus policy. She explains, "Many of the male spouses managed to get employment. So now that school was starting, it was up to the female guardian to walk the 4 miles per day. This presented a huge problem....where do you leave the infants and babies while one is gone for 2 hours in the morning and then again in the evening?"

On the first day of school Wizie saw a clip of Dr. Alicia Thompson, the new Superintendent of Wichita Public School (WPS), talking about how she cares about the safety of children getting to and from school.  Wizie recalls, "I knew at that moment I needed to get a meeting with her!" One thing led to another and Wizie managed to arrange a meeting with the Superintendent, the transportation director and IRC. Subsequently, meetings with Wichita Public Transit (WPT) ensued and a partnership was created.

The outcome of this meeting proves the old adage, success occurs when opportunity meets preparation. Due to Wizie and Darwin’s initiative coinciding with USD 259 and WPT’s on-going talks about transportation, WPT created new stops on their bus route specifically for students to go to/from school. Service began on September 17, 2018. Community-led support and involvement led the day and illustrated once again that Wichita is a welcoming city that embraces our newest neighbors.