The iconic black and yellow school bus seen donating food and clothes to the homeless and hungry in Timmins will continue under new management, as Yo! Mobile founder Mario Dassault plans to step back to focus on his health.
Dassault called on Chapter 705 of My Risk Peril to move the charity forward, after nearly a year of volunteering on the bus and organizing their own food and clothing trips around town.
“I think it’s a good time for me to pass this on because young people are very good with people and… they have the same passion I had when I started,” said Dassault, founder of Yo! Mobile over ten years ago.
“(If) you didn’t have the people at Timmins, you wouldn’t have Yo! Mobile. Everyone who helped me with this, thank you very much.”
Dan Gloucester leads the local chapter of Risk Takers, an addiction and mental health group focused on recovery and peer support.
Once the final details are signed, he said, the group would like to expand bus operations.
“We like to run it year-round because (with) winter it hasn’t suited me to stop feeding people,” Gloucester said at an Easter dinner outside the Living Orphanage. .
“We distributed 6,208 meals throughout the winter, so we would like to continue throughout the year.”
Part of what Dassault said that made him believe the risk-takers would be dedicated bus operators is the dedication they have shown to help those in need over the past year, as well as their shared stories. Help and willingness to return the favor.
“I was hooked. I was in prison. It changed my life, I’ve been sober for nine years,” Gloucester said.
“I just try to give back… I try to help where I can. Try to bring people in — show them, you know, that there is life after recovery.”
