‘Riding The Bus’ Takes Readers on a Literary Trip in Centre County, Pa.,

By Ivonne D’amato, Centre Daily Times, State College, Pa.

Sep. 25–STATE COLLEGE — Passengers riding CATA’s Loop circuit got a treat Saturday as volunteers read passages from “Riding the Bus with My Sister,” the 2005 Centre County Reads selection.

“‘You need a tuneup,” said Beth,” Mark Ballora read from the Rachel Simon book while aboard one of the buses.

The readings were part of Centre County Reads kickoff festivities, which also included information booths for local service agencies, bookstores and the Centre Area Transportation Authority.

In keeping with the theme of the book — Simon’s memoir of her travels on public transportation with her mentally challenged sister — Special Olympian Matt Prosek gave a speech on the positive effect public transportation has had on his life.

“The drivers are especially nice. They always have a nice smile on their faces — well, almost always,” Prosek said. The bus “helps me get to places where I can buy things I need, like groceries and SpongeBob stuff.”

The Centre County Reads selection, which was adapted into a Hallmark Hall of Fame film, has generated interest in events for local service agencies — a move that Tom Sutherland, a supportive living supervisor and training coordinator for Strawberry Fields, said doesn’t happen “often enough.”

Several training and social events for local services agencies, such as ARC of Centre County, SKILLS Incorporated and Strawberry Fields, are scheduled over the next two months that will hopefully bring together staff members “to talk about similar experiences” and their mentally-challenged clients, Sutherland said.

The kickoff was an opportunity to “get the word out about what is available in the county,” Sutherland said of agencies that provide services for people with disabilities.

Ellen Campbell, a Centre County Reads member who also sits on the board of Strawberry Fields, agreed.

“It is important to remember there are many good people in our county who work with people just like the sister Rachel Simon writes about,” Campbell wrote in an e-mail. “These agencies and advocates work in an era of decreasing state and federal funding, often still encountering societal resistance.”

Campbell, whose son Matthew is mentally challenged, said without agencies such as SKILLS, ARC and Strawberry Fields, there would not be much available for son to do.

“As a parent who must rely on the kindness of this community to include my son, I am most grateful for people who care enough to make a profession of what is deeply personal to me,” she said.

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