Case Study: Visalia Rescue Mission achieves significant fuel and time savings and program expansion with Route4Me

Route4Me Helps California Homeless and Drug Recovery Nonprofit Thrive and Grow

The Visalia Rescue Mission is a California nonprofit serving the homeless and people in drug recovery that funds programs partly through two thrift stores stocked from donated goods. The Mission operates four trucks (two making 40–60 stops per day across a roughly 45‑mile radius) and faced routing problems with its previous provider—incorrect addresses, unnecessary detours and backtracking—so scheduler Aaron Shields adopted Route4Me’s route optimization and mobile routing tools to streamline pickups.

Using Route4Me, Aaron imports donor data from Excel and generates routes in about 30 seconds, views and edits mapped stops, and makes last‑minute changes that sync with drivers. Route4Me’s platform reduced wasted miles and driver-hours—about 10 gallons of gas saved per truck per day—improved on‑time pickups, and freed resources for program growth (including a new antique restoration store and training program), delivering measurable cost and time savings for the Visalia Rescue Mission.

Visalia Rescue Mission

Aaron Shields