
{"id":2844,"date":"2008-06-19T07:18:02","date_gmt":"2008-06-19T15:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=2844"},"modified":"2008-06-19T07:18:02","modified_gmt":"2008-06-19T15:18:02","slug":"a-cabby-with-compassion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/06\/19\/a-cabby-with-compassion\/","title":{"rendered":"A cabby with compassion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href='http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/resizedchtaxi.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/resizedchtaxi.jpg\" alt=\"Ulugbek Kasimov at his Carrboro-based Chapel Hill Taxi. Photo by Jordan Timpy.\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" align=\"left\"\/><\/a><strong><em>by Catherine Rierson <\/strong><br \/>\nStaff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Chapel Hill Taxi cabs parked neatly in rows in the parking lot on Lloyd Street in Carrboro began running a little over four months ago. But the phrase Ulugbek Kasimov, or Bek, has decided to print on them, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A Ride With Us Brings The Future To Others,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d reflects an idea that has been brewing for much longer than that.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are a lot of taxi cabs out there, but we wanted to be just a little bit different,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Kasimov said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In a good way,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he added quickly with a smile.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nKasimov has been living in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area with his family since he emigrated from Uzbekistan eight years ago.  He said he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always wanted to give back, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s finally figured out how: He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s donating a dollar to both the Carolina Covenant Program and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools system for every ride with Chapel Hill Taxi, the taxi company he co-owns, which is noteworthy for having cabs outfitted with massage chairs.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I feel like I can make a difference,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It may look small at first, but in the long run it will be a big difference.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>His wife received a degree in social work from UNC and his son attends East Chapel Hill High, and he feels grateful for what both schools have done for his family, he said.<\/p>\n<p>That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why he decided to donate to the public school system and UNC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Carolina Covenant Program once a month. Last Friday, Kasimov and his partner, Kumal Balal, presented the first check of $1,000 to the recipients at their new office, a small room in a brick office building beside the train tracks on Lloyd Street.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I feel important,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Kasimov said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve met so many beautiful people here, and I thought, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI need to give back to this community.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The Carolina Covenant Program allows eligible students from low-income families to attend the university and graduate debt free as long as they meet certain criteria, like working 10 to 12 hours a week at an on-campus work-study job.<\/p>\n<p>Kasimov said he founded his idea on social entrepreneurship: Whereas business entrepreneurs gage their success on profit, he evaluates his success in terms of the social impact the project will have on the community. <\/p>\n<p> Take a spin in one of Kasimov\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s taxis \u00e2\u20ac\u201d you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get a massage and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be contributing to another local cause.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Catherine Rierson Staff Writer The Chapel Hill Taxi cabs parked neatly in rows in the parking lot on Lloyd Street in Carrboro began running a little over four months ago. But the phrase Ulugbek Kasimov, or Bek, has decided to print on them, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A Ride With Us Brings The Future To Others,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d reflects an&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2844\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}