FREEPORT – The Freeport Elders will ride again, as the 325-member senior association has reached its fundraising goal of $65,000 to purchase a 2014 mini-bus.

The bus will replace a prior 14-passenger vehicle that was taken out of service on July 19, 2012, after failing a yearly state inspection.

A $15,000 grant from the Community Development Block Grant program has been awarded to the town of Freeport on behalf of the Freeport Elders Association for the purchase of the bus. During the last few years, group members have raised more than $49,000 for the bus, and the grant will complete the fundraising efforts. The bus will be used for regular trips for shopping, to parks, theaters, museums, cemeteries, the YMCA and other points of interest. The bus should be ready for purchase in September.

According to Bill Gifford, chairman of the Freeport Elders committee, the group will send out three bids at the end of the month to decide which company will customize a 24-foot-long bus. The handicapped-accessible vehicle will hold 15 passengers, including the driver, and be air conditioned, said Gifford, who has been a member of the association since 1997, two years after its formation.

The bus has both a practical purpose, such as trips to the grocery store, and a social component, with members using the vehicle to attend performances, area restaurants and local parks. The group had participated in a variety of fundraising efforts during the past four years, including bottle drives, raffling off quilts, hosting suppers, and a 50/50 raffle, all from headquarters at the Freeport Community Center on Depot Street.

Gifford said the group also has had help from the Rotary Club, local businesses, local clam diggers who dug clams and donated the proceeds from the sale of the shellfish to the club, proceeds from a Valentine’s Day chocolate- and cheese-tasting event and private individuals.

“It’s been a community effort,” said Gifford.

In the interim, members have been carpooling to events and helping one another with trips to the grocery store.

“I think it’s tremendous that we will be getting a new bus,” said Freeport Elder member Ed Bonney. “It serves a great purpose.”

Gifford said after a bus company is chosen to supply the vehicle, the process of customization can take up to three months. The old bus, a 1992 Ford mini-bus that the group obtained as a used vehicle in June 1999, was plagued by numerous problems, including holes in the floor on the passenger side by the door, a rotted-out air conditioner, missing pieces from the vehicle’s frame, bad shock absorbers, and a transmission oil seal leak into the catalytic converter, which is a fire hazard, said association member Pat Pooters last August.

“This is a brand new vehicle,” said Gifford. “It’s going to be able to do everything we need.”

The Freeport Elders Association has reached its fundraising goal of $65,000 to purchase a bus similar to this Ford F-450. The new vehicle will replace the 13-year-old bus that was taken out of service in July 2012 after a host of structural problems caused the bus to fail a state inspection.