A King County van began its “working retirement” Thursday when the Enumclaw High School Transitions Program accepted the keys from representatives from Metropolitan King County Councilman Reagan Dunn.

“It’s been a blessing,” program coordinators Gail VanHoof and Laurie Olsen-Pennington said. The district has two vans that transport students in the district’s Transitions program to local and out-of-town work training programs. Programs that provide students with special needs with real world on-the-job training that prepares them for life after high school.

The van is part of a fleet made available in May by the county council, which chose to donate 27 retired Metro Vanpool vans to provide transportation assistance to local governments, community programs, senior citizens and young adults. The retired vans have been part of Metro Transit’s vanpool fleet for at least six years and have reached the end of their service life. When the vans reach this age, they are considered surplus and sold.

“These community organizations are reaching out to people who need something most of us take for granted – basic mobility. That is priceless,” Dunn said. “I am just glad that we can put retired county resources to valuable use.”

Before stopping in Enumclaw, Dunn delivered two vans to the Maple Valley Community Center.

Since 1995, the County Council has been donating retired vans from Metro’s Vanpool program to local nonprofit organizations to provide transportation for the disabled, low-income, young adults and senior citizens. The groups are responsible for licensing, insuring and maintaining the vehicles.

Interested organizations can contact Dunn’s office for information on applying for a vehicle. His office can be reached at 206-296-1009 or reagan.dunn@kingcounty.gov.