Go, team, go!
Rehoboth’s new bus will ferry teams to events in style

Rehoboth guard Tiffany Bigay rubs some lotion on her hands and relaxes with space to spare as the team loads up for lunch in Albuquerque in their new Rehoboth charter bus. Adron Gardner/For the Independent

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff writer

REHOBOTH — Rehoboth Christian School got a really nice, really big gift over the holidays.

But it was the girls basketball team that got the first chance to “unwrap” it and try it on for size. The team, competing in a tournament at Sandia Prep over the weekend, was the first group of Rehoboth students to take a trip in the school’s freshly painted, new activity bus.

Actually, the bus wasn’t a gift — Rehoboth bought it from Hope College in Holland, Mich. — and it’s really not new — Hope College used it before upgrading to a newer bus — but that’s close enough for Rehoboth officials, who point out that the school has never had a real charter bus before to use as a school activity bus.

“It’s a blessing for us to have this as a school,” Rachel Kass, development assistant at Rehoboth, said.

Former Holland resident Dan Aukeman, now the coordinator for Rehoboth’s developing housing community, arranged for the bus purchase after learning Hope College transportation officials were planning to purchase a newer charter bus. “He started the ball rolling on this,” Kass said.

Hope College sold the bus to Rehoboth for $13,000 but insisted that Hope’s blue and orange school colors be replaced and painted over in Rehoboth’s maroon and gold before the bus could leave for New Mexico. In a news release, Rehoboth officials speculated this may have proved “difficult to witness” since maroon and gold are also the colors of Calvin College, Hope’s primary rival. In addition, the bus now sports the Rehoboth school name, its corporate business logo, and its lynx mascot.

According to David Orris, Rehoboth’s director of advancement, the bus also now has a totally rebuilt diesel engine.

After the new paint job, the bus was then parked in front of a Holland restaurant so local residents could admire the new design and make financial donations to Rehoboth to help with the purchase. Jeff Banaszak, another former Holland resident and the new finance and operations director at Rehoboth, drove the bus from Michigan to New Mexico over the Christmas holiday.

Orris said about $7,000 has been raised thus far to cover the purchase, with most of the donations coming from people who live out-of-state. Rehoboth officials are hoping to raise the remaining $6,000 from local donors, he said.

An anonymous donor is sponsoring a matching gift campaign that will match local charitable donations dollar-for-dollar, up to $2,000.

Kass said the new bus will be used mostly by the high school band and choir for their music tours and by the school’s athletic teams. Because Rehoboth will no longer have to lease charter buses for the band and choir tours, Orris said he expects the activity bus will save the school money on those trips. And although the new bus is less fuel efficient than a regular, yellow school bus, Orris said student athletes will ride more comfortably in it and not arrive exhausted for important sporting competitions.

Orris said he also expects the bus will be used to transport teachers to training seminars and transport visiting school donors and volunteers on local sightseeing trips.

“It’ll be a pretty busy bus,” he added.

Financial donations for the matching gift program can be mailed
to Rehoboth Christian School,
P.O. Box 41, Rehoboth, NM 87322.

Credit card donations can be made by contacting Deanna, (505) 726-9683.