Grab the tissues and get ready to hear Melissa’s story. We were blessed to donate a reliable Toyota to her in May and it has utterly transformed her life. Here’s her story, shared with her permission, provided by Tara Lazaro.
Melissa recalls the intense pain she felt in her legs as she walked five to six hours a day to get to work, rain or shine. “I'm shaking just remembering it,” Melissa said as she choked back tears. She was homeless and barely scraping by in early 2020 when she met Jay Meador from the Financial Fitness Center. After learning about Melissa’s story, Meador advocated for her to receive a vehicle from OnRamp.
Melissa tried other ways of getting to work, but usually found them unreliable. Sometimes she would take the bus, but still needed to walk as much as two miles from the bus stop. If she got off work late, the bus was not an option, leaving her to walk home for hours in the dark. She once tried using a ride-hailing service to get to work, but was six hours late after the driver failed to show up. She even tried seeking out other employment, but companies often refused to hire her without reliable transportation.
Melissa’s challenges went beyond her commute. “I couldn’t get to the doctor,” she recalled. “Without someone else to take me I was done.” With the exorbitant cost of an ambulance ride, she wouldn’t consider going unless it was an absolute emergency. Even grocery shopping was difficult.
On the day she received her midnight blue Scion xA from OnRamp, things changed for Melissa. “I was overwhelmed,” she said, looking back. “I’ll never forget, after everything I’ve been through, 80% of it [was] chalked up to transportation issues...Now I can go here and go there, I can get it done.”
Holding the keys to her first car, Melissa can not only get to work safely and reliably, she is able to get the medical treatment she needs. “I feel like I have legs again,” she said. No longer having to spend multiple hours a day commuting to work, she told OnRamp that she is finding ways to work harder. Her goal is to become an entrepreneur, and with her new vehicle she was able to attend an entrepreneurship class where she learned how to develop a business plan.
Thanks to her new vehicle from OnRamp, Melissa has gained her independence. In her newly-found free time she enjoys spending it with her cats, finding homes for feral cats, going to church or driving to the park for fresh air. She even drove out to volunteer at OnRamp’s recent CarWash fundraiser to help give back to this ministry that changed her life.
I cannot say it often enough: reliable vehicles transform lives. Melissa is just one of 83 clients delivered by the gift of an automobile. We have many more on our waiting list… but our funds are running dangerously low. With inflation driving up our prices and donations down, OnRamp had to pull back this week from accepting any new clients until God provides the significant funds needed to build our balance back up. Please pray with us for God to provide. And if you are in a position to give, please do by visiting onramptx.org/give. If this ministry has inspired you, please also share it with others who may be in a position to give. There are so many more people like Melissa in our community who need the love of Jesus through the essential gift of reliable transportation.