River View LifeWise debuts refurbished red bus thanks to community generosity

River View LifeWise Academy recently purchased a used yellow school bus because students needed to be transported off the school campus for biblical education during school time. Rob Dorsey and family of Reconditioning Professionals LLC of West Lafayette wanted to donate their services to the River View LifeWise and help with the project.

Dorsey and his wife wanted to involve their kids in giving back to the community. Both their young adults are enrolled in FFA at River View. They sandblasted, repainted and refurbished the bus. It now is a bright-red LifeWise color.

Dorsey and his staff have now completed several LifeWise buses for other local groups. The vinyl lettering was obtained locally, and Dave Grudier and family of Coshocton Collision applied the vinyl lettering as a donation to River View LifeWise. The bus was then inspected and passed by the Ohio State Patrol because the safety of students is of the utmost concern of LifeWise.

LifeWise Academy teaches young students character-building such as kindness, sharing, respect, obedience, patience and perseverance. This is accomplished through stories, classroom participation and volunteers exhibiting these same qualities as role models. The program is staffed with volunteers who are background checked, trained for the specific position, and trained in how to recognize and prevent child abuse.

LifeWise Academy began serving kindergarten through sixth grade students at Conesville Elementary and is now offered to River View Elementary at Warsaw for kindergarten through second grade and River View Intermediate School for third grade through sixth grade. Parents must sign a consent form to allow students to leave the school campus.

There were more than 200 students last year, and because LifeWise is growing, the bus became a necessity. LifeWise is in need of volunteers to help in this ministry. They need bus drivers with CDL licensure, teachers to help spread the good news, and volunteer helpers to assist the students in activities and escort the students to and from the off-campus site.

To find out how to help, visit the LifeWise Academy - River View Facebook page.