WHAT. A. STORY! Client #86 received her new minivan today in record time. Project Unity nominated this dedicated single mom of five kids under six years old (I can’t fathom the exhaustion she must feel at the end of the day!) I can not overstate what a worthy client she is! To quote her sponsor, “Her greatest strength is HOPE!” She works full time to provide for her kids, yet still radiates joy to those around her. She’s working towards her GED and hopes to improve her income and financial security in the years to come. Just to give you a sense of what she’s all about, when she was talking on the phone to an insurance agent to secure a policy on her OnRamp car, she was told to do some things that were just onerous. She replied, “No, I read the fine print in your contract and it says those things are optional, and I do not wish to provide those.” Y’all… she read the fine print! Who does that! What a stellar young mom making sure her family is taken care of.
So now to the question of why she needed our help. She did have a minivan of her own, an older Honda Odyssey that appeared to be in decent shape. What she did not know was that it had spent most of its life in the midwest where the roads are salted. She didn’t know that when you buy a vehicle, you should always get down on your hands and knees and look underneath for signs of rust. No one had told her that (OnRamp is coming out with free training videos in the next couple months that include lessons like “How to buy a used car” which will address this!). She bought the car and drove it till it needed service. When she took it in to a mechanic, it couldn’t even be put on a lift because the rust was so bad, the mechanic feared the van would crack in half! That’s what led her advocate to bring her to OnRamp. We accepted her and started looking for a replacement minivan while she continued to drive the old Honda so she wouldn’t lose her job. Unfortunately, a tire blew this last Sunday. She called Jill, her OnRamp mentor, and Jill contacted me. I helped her son and a friend get a hydraulic jack to change the tire and that’s when we discovered… the car couldn’t be jacked up because the entire underside had rusted away! Y’all I have NEVER seen a car this bad! The frame crumbled to dust as they raised the jack. Here’s the terrifying thing: if she would have been in an accident, she and her kids would likely not have survived. Survival requires a strong chassis, and there was nothing left of this one!
Fortunately, God knew her need and provided an excellent Toyota Sienna at just the right time in Houston. Chip and Diane rushed down with OnRamp funds to buy the van (thank you to all who donated!!), and Christian Brothers pulled a late night to get it fixed up and ready for her. Today we blessed her and her two oldest kids with this reliable, rust-free, SAFE minivan to keep her and her kids on their path towards a better future. As always, this isn’t the end of our journey with her. We’ll fully support the van for the next twelve months, as we do for all clients. And Jill will continue to meet with her monthly for mentoring, encouragement, and prayer. We’re committed to helping this courageous woman grow as the provider and example for her children. It is our honor to help her along the way! Thank you Taylor for helping with client care and car seats! Thank you Austin and your team at CBA for going above-and-beyond to get this one done on time!
