The LOST Bus team stops in South Lake Tahoe to help the community
Submitted by paula on Wed, 04/12/2023 - 9:30pm
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - You may have seen a big blue school bus in South Lake Tahoe this week with the words LOST BUS painted on its sides. Inside is a group of young men from South Carolina, and friends, traveling the countryside in search of people who need help.
LOST, an acronym for Lending Our Services Traveling, establishes the basic vision of the project. They’re on a journey—rooted in service, inspired by adventure, and propelled by the hospitality of everyday Americans.
The bus and the main crew of Josh Haddad, Cain Compton, and Davis Linscott are almost seven months into their year-long journey, helping people along the route while also seeing and enjoying all America has to offer, one community at a time.
Along their journey, other people join them whether for a day or a couple of weeks. Those that do leave their name on the roof of the bus, help keep memories alive for the team. On the trip to South Lake Tahoe they have Ludwig Böcker from Germany on board. The bus picked him up in Pismo Beach, Calif. as he was making his way north from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Also on board is 6th-grade math teacher Matthew Lee from South Carolina, a childhood friend of the main crew. He spent his Spring Break on board the LOST Bus.
They pulled into South Lake Tahoe and through connections with Mayor Cristi Creegan, they scheduled a few days of demolition work on the Tahoe Homeless Coaliton's Bear's Den and helping their host, the American Legion, with some roof work.
The LOST Bus left South Carolina in October 2022 and will wrap up the one-year trip in October of this year. Along the way, the men have helped communities in the South including hurricane victims in Florida, Hurricane Ida victims with rebuilding in Louisiana, the Navajo Nation in the Southwest, built a chicken coop in Mexico, helped out flooded Monterey County, stopped in Sonoma and now they are in South Lake Tahoe. They leave late Friday, drop off Matthew at the Reno Airport Saturday, and begin a journey towards Portland, Oregon.
They are looking for some projects between Tahoe and northern Oregon if anyone has a connection, contact them through their website, https://www.lostbus.com/. They have three weeks before they need to arrive in Portland.
As they say, what are the unique needs we can help with within your local community? Be the magnet that pulls the bus to your town!
The LOST Bus team lives on donations, and support along the way for gas, equipment, and bus maintenance. They have bunkbeds and a kitchen on board, though this trip they'll be sleeping on the floor at the Legion. To help, visit https://www.lostbus.com/donate.
Josh, Cain, and David aren't the first ones to live on the LOST Bus and travel the country, and won't be the last. Once the bus returns to South Carolina a new team will take over, though that crew is unknown at this time. Josh said they'll unscrew the bus's wood ceiling so they can take the written memories with them, and the new crew can add a new one.