By By Haley Aaron, Hartselle Enquirer
Members of Hartselle First United Methodist Church hope the church’s parking lot will be full - not only on Sundays mornings, but every day of the week.
While an empty parking lot may sound like an unusual place to start a community outreach program, the church hopes that its new Park and Ride program will save Hartselle citizens gas and money.
While Park and Ride programs have been adopted by churches in other cities, there was no place in Hartselle currently offering the service. “There wasn’t a place to do this,” she said. “There are very few empty parking lots in Hartselle.”
While the church is providing a location for people to leave their cars, the Hartselle Enquirer will provide a way for carpoolers to contact each other. The Enquirer will be printing the names and contact information of individuals who would like to carpool free of charge. To place your announcement, call the Enquirer at 773-6566 or send your requests to news@hartselleenquirer.com with “ride share” in the subject line.
Mashburn also hopes the church’s actions will provide an example to the community, and to other local churches who might be interested in starting their own Park and Ride programs.
Mashburn developed the idea after driving by the empty parking lot during her daily commute. “I thought I drive by the church every day and I passed lots of other cars with only one passenger,” she said.
The church’s parking lot on Highway 36 will remain open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday through Friday. Carpoolers can meet at the church parking lot and leave their cars. A special effort is being taken to make sure that the parking lot is a safe location to leave cars. “I talked to the police department and they said they would patrol