A final push is being made for donations to purchase a new eco-friendly bus for Northern high school.
The 4Northern Foundation has raised 70 per cent of its fundraising goal since launching the campaign on February 1.
President Rob Tuer said the state-of-the-art vehicle will serve students better.
"Northern's bus is not funded through the provincial government and it is a very important part of student life at Northern high school," said Tuer. "It's almost used daily for classes, (and) to do activities throughout Sarnia-Lambton, as well as on weekends. Long bus trips for the sports teams, cross country, basketball... everywhere across the province."
Tuer said they help raise money to replace the vehicle about every 10 years.
"We have our GoFundMe page, (and) we've been contacting a lot of Northern alumni and different community partners of ours that have been very generous over the years in donating money to the foundation as well," Tuer said.
He said donations can also be made through their website.
"We're pretty close to hitting our goal. We're looking at about $35,000 remaining and we're hoping to wrap this up in the next month or so with our community's support," Tuer added.
As the cost of these vehicles continues to increase, Tuer said fundraising becomes more difficult.
"Our last bus was just over $80,000 about 10 years ago, and now we're looking at about $130,000, and then of course the warranties on top of that. So, it's quite an increase since the last time we had to purchase a bus," said Tuer.
This will be the fifth edition of the Viking Bus.
"I'm just amazed by this community so far, for how far we've gotten with our goal," he said. "Sarnia-Lambton has been so generous and we can't thank them enough. (We're) hoping that everybody else will be able to help us out just a little bit more and cross this finish line."
4Northern is a charitable organization whose mandate is to raise funds in support of the continued development of Northern Collegiate Institute and Vocational School in Sarnia and its surrounding community.