Trio Of Leaders Named To Howard County's Neighbor Ride Board

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — Several individuals have been named to Howard County's Neighbor Ride board of directors. Neighbor Ride provides affordable, passenger-focused transportation services through a volunteer-based system for Howard County seniors, which include trips for medical appointments, social outings, shopping, educational pursuits and wellness activities.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Neighbor Ride volunteers also has been delivering meals and groceries to vulnerable families and seniors in the county in partnership with the Howard County Food Bank, the Howard County Office on Aging & Independence and the Howard County Public School System. In addition to welcoming new members to the board, Neighbor Ride thanked retiring board member Jesse Harvey.

The following individuals have been appointed to the board of directors:

• Bita Dayhoff: President of the Community Action Council of Howard County (CAC), which serves low-income residents through four core program areas including food assistance, energy and weatherization assistance, housing assistance and early childhood education.
• Patrick Higgins: Co-founder of Howard Tech Advisors, a leading provider of technology services to business and non-profit customers in the Baltimore-Washington region
• Jerry Reardon: Recently retired Director of Clinical Reporting Services for the Chesapeake Regional Information System for Patients (CRISP), a regional health information exchange (HIE) serving Maryland and the District of Columbia.

“We are excited to add this trio of talented new board members that bring expertise Neighbor Ride is seeking to advance our mission. More and more Neighbor Ride finds itself at the intersection of aging, access to senior services, and transportation. Bita has a long history of building partnerships to address community needs through her leadership of CAC and will help Neighbor Ride continue to build out and expand on our 15 years of community service. Technology is an underpinning of Neighbor Ride’s operations. Patrick helps organizations leverage technology to advance their mission and we will look to leverage his expertise on this front," noted Bruce Fulton, executive director of Neighbor Ride. "Finally, the majority of the rides we provide are for medical services. Jerry’s extensive accomplishments across the health care sector will help us to better serve our client passengers and the public health of our community which is even more critical while the COVID-19 pandemic continues around us.”