Greyhound Offers Free Bus Tickets to Runaway Children

Scrolling through Facebook usually results in me watching every cute animal video until I look up and 12 hours have passed, or cringing so hard that I almost turn inside-out when I see people barking at each other over politics.

Everyone once in a while, however, I see something that makes me think, "Hey, this is awesome. I should tell people about this."

That was the case today when I saw some folks talking about a program that the Greyhound bus company offers called Home Free. I guess they've been doing this for some time now, but I've only just heard about it and I hope I can help get the information out to people in need.

Under the program, runaways between the age of 12 and 21 named on a runaway report and willing to be reunited with their family (and vice-versa) are eligible for a free Greyhound bus ticket home. The child must also call the toll-free National Runaway Safeline at 1-800-RUNAWAY (1-800-786-2929). Parents of kids under the age of 15 are also eligible for a free ticket to get to their runaway child.

Home Free can only be used on two occasions by the same person. One wishes it never needed to be used, and hope that if it did it only needed to be used once.

If you know anyone who could benefit from this information (a runaway trying to get home or a parent trying to arrange transportation to pick up their runaway child), please share and pass it along.

You can also visit 1800runaway.org for more information and resources.