Yesterday (Wednesday, Nov 3) we had the privilege of blessing two deserving local women with reliable vehicles.
Client #80, Kandise, received this sweet blue Toyota Scion (I’m a huge fan of non-monochrome car colors!) She serves as the Transportation Operations Supervisor at Brazos Valley Center for Independent Living, a wonderful charitable organization dedicated to providing freedom to seniors and disabled adults through services such as free transportation to medical appointments. Unfortunately, Kandise’s own vehicle died, and after paying for food, housing, and medical bills, there was no money left to buy an affordable vehicle, especially in today’s inflated used-car market. This not only threatened her employment, it also limited her ability to care for her partner, who is legally blind, and her grandparent suffering from Alzheimer’s. Sensing her need, her organization lovingly nominated her to OnRamp and we couldn’t be more pleased to help this hard-working young woman keep on her path towards greater success.
Client #81, whose identity we are keeping private, is a single mom of three children who works six days a week as a home health provider. Tragically, after fleeing an abusive relationship a few years ago, she was left without any transportation - he got the car. This is such a common hardship that befalls women escaping domestic abuse since the car is often in the abuser’s name. She has now been without any vehicle for two years, yet has persevered in her job and even made progress towards earning her GED! This is exactly the type of person OnRamp was created to help! We are so thankful to bless this hard working mom with the gift of a reliable Honda CRV.
Now to beat a drum. Please notice that both of these women work full time jobs. Both have pursued advancement. For Kandise, she advanced from a driver to a supervisor. For Client #81, she works 6 days a week WHILE continuing her GED. And when all the bills are paid and food is purchased for them and their dependents, neither had sufficient money left to afford reliable transportation. Their need for assistance was not due to laziness or lack of ambition. It was due to the fact that basic costs of living exceed income for many, many people in our economy (even when they have gracious employers like Kandise does!) Most of us are not in a position to fix macro-economic problems like this. But if we’ve been blessed with more than enough money to cover basic living expenses, we should honestly evaluate our spending priorities in light of what John the Baptist said in Luke 3:11, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” To borrow John’s language, there are far too many people in our community walking around with no shirt and no food.
Special thanks are in order to Christian Brothers Automotive who prepared both vehicles for these dear clients, as well as Rami Cerone and Chip Jennings who helped purchase and deliver them. And as always, a huge thanks to our Client Care Team, especially Catherine Cole, Stephanie Mason, Tara Lazaro, and Abigail McDougal who took lead on these two cases. Thanks to Kennedy Hassmann for the photos, shared with client permission.
