Page 118 - South Mississippi Living - November, 2021

GOLDEN YEARS
TRAVELING GRACE
story by Gabbie Bowden
photos courtesy of Alicia Preston
“I saw a growing need; my mother is
in her 80s and relies on her children to take her to doctor’s appointments. But many seniors don’t have family,” says Alicia Preston, the founder of Traveling Grace LLC, a service that provides non- emergency medical transportation for clients along the Coast. “I grew up here on the Gulf Coast and always wanted to serve this community. This isn’t an idea that I came up with on my own, as there are plenty of transportation providers out there, but I wanted to provide a different level of care and customer service.”
Preston gave up a government position in 2018, choosing instead to put full effort into her new business. In the beginning, she and her husband, a local pastor, went door-to-door with flyers, visited assisted living facilities, and let other churches know about their budding operation. They also occasionally provided grocery shopping services and rides to senior activities.
In 2019, Traveling Grace landed contracts with Medicare brokers, which allowed her to expand the business, employ drivers within the community
and provide service to even more clients. “A lot of people who inquire about our services don’t realize that they are possibly eligible, or already have transportation as part of their insurance benefit package,
so I always refer them to their provider to inquire before providing an out-of-pocket quote,” she says. “Now that our business is growing, we really specialize solely
on taking clients to and from medical appointments. That typically fills our drivers’ whole day.”
Today, news of Traveling Grace mostly spreads via word-of-mouth and their impressively wrapped fleet of five
Compassion Behind the Wheel
118 | November 2021
Ms. Loomis.
www.smliving.net | SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living
Alicia Preston.
Bishop T. R. Preston.