Elderly and disabled people in Newton Abbot could lose the popular Shopmobility scheme at the end of the month unless a significant injection of cash and additional volunteers can be found.
It costs £11,000 a year to operate the scheme, but its major funding source – £8,500 per year from the Countryside Agency – is coming to an end and no substitute has been identified despite exhaustive efforts on the part of the organisers.
'As yet we've had no positive responses,' said chairman Dudley Hambleton. 'We therefore have no funding in place for the coming year.
'We're holding a meeting at Devon County Council on March 10, but I'm not hopeful that it will result in any grant being given. We're 95 per cent sure that £2,000 they earmarked for us last year will still come our way, but even that will mean we can only continue until July.'
The scheme has been providing wheelchairs and powered scooters for the elderly and disabled since June 1993. Last year, nearly 2,000 were borrowed by shoppers in the town including a growing number of disabled visitors attracted to the town because of the scheme and the traffic free level shopping areas.
In a last-minute bid to secure a future for the service, treasurer John Warr has written to supermarket giant Asda asking for whatever help it can offer.
He writes: 'Could Asda Stores help to save Newton Abbot Shopmobility? Asda has stated that its objective is to support local communities and what priority could be greater than that of helping to sustain a vital service which helps to address the mobility needs of some of the most deprived and vulnerable members of society?'
Mr Warr hopes that Asda can consider not only financial assistance but also the provision of a base for Shopmobility within the new supermarket.
The scheme's current cramped conditions – wheelchairs and scooters are crammed into a disabled toilet – are located in a graffiti-covered pedestrian alleyway underneath the Sherborne Road multi-storey car park and have been the subject of arson and vandalism attacks.
Mr Warr believes that the new supermarket's location with disabled parking bays and pedestrianised access into town would be very popular with users and would help attract more volunteers – as well as being beneficial to the store.
'We feel that the publicity value of Asda agreeing to become the official sponsor of this charity could be substantial,' he writes.
Asda spokesman Simon Hoare confirmed that Mr Warr's request was being considered by the firm's management and that a response would be made as soon as possible.
l Want to do your bit? Volunteers are still needed, call 01626 335775 for details.