City Of Ocala Donates Two Vehicles To The Estella Byrd Whitman Community Health Center
Levonda Goodson, the CEO of the Estella Byrd Whitman Community Health Center, left, celebrates with Tom James, the director of Executive Engagement for the Ocala Metro Chamber & Economic Partnership, right, during a ceremony and ribbon cutting where the City of Ocala donated two vehicles to the Estella Byrd Whitman Community Health Center in Ocala, Fla. on Thursday, June 26, 2025. The two donated vehicles will help the Community Health Center to get patients to and from their appointments in the Ocala community where not everyone has transportation. Goodson and Heather James, the Estella Byrd Whitman Community Health Center’s director of communications and community relations asked Ocala Police Chief Mike Balken if he could help with the two vehicles. Balken, in turn, asked John King, the City of Ocala Fleet and Facilities Management Director, to help with the donation of the two vehicles for transportation. The two donated vehicles are a 2010 Chevrolet bus and a 2008 Ford Expedition. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2025.
Some clients of the Estella Byrd Whitman Community Health Center lack transportation to come in for appointments. The city of Ocala on June 26 donated two vehicles to help make that possible.
Levonda Goodson, the CEO of the center, and Heather James, the director of communications and community relations, asked Ocala Police Chief Mike Balken if he could help secure any vehicles. Balken, in turn, asked John King, the city of Ocala Fleet and Facilities Management Director, to help. The two donated vehicles are a 2010 Chevrolet bus and a 2008 Ford Expedition.
“We are so grateful to Chief Balken, the city and City Council for their generosity of these vehicles,” Goodson said after the event.
The center offers primary health care for the whole family, beginning at age 6 months and up, including health checkups, well child visits, childhood disorders, school and sports physicals, women’s health services and family planning, vaccinations, chronic care management, preventative care screenings, health education, a drug assistance program and specialty referrals for dental, ophthalmology and more.
“These vehicles will give EBWCHC the opportunity to continue to remove the barriers of transportation for our patients, enabling them to get to their appointments, including their specialty appointments. We will go to any part of Marion County to get patients where they need to be so that they may get the quality healthcare they need. This generous donation will help many get to their appointments to have healthier lives,” Goodson said.
To learn more about the center, go to ebwchc.org
Support community journalism
The first goal of the Ocala Gazette is to deliver trustworthy local journalism so corruption, misinformation and abuse are not hidden from the public or unchallenged.
