If Easter is ultimately about the hope we have through Jesus’ new life, then what better way to celebrate than by sharing HOPE with a family in desperate need! Today, OnRamp gifted a beautiful minivan to our 99th client. For her safety, we can't share her name, picture, or identifying information, but we can tell a bit of the story.
This single mom is the sole provider for multiple kids. She has overcome incredible economic and health hardships that were exacerbated by the pandemic, and yet she has kept pushing to provide a stable, loving home for her children. She’s worked for ten straight years at the same place caring for kids with special needs. But during the worst of Covid, her employer had to shutdown temporarily, and she lost her wages. That forced her to make an unbelievably hard decision: buy food for her kids or pay her note on her car. She chose to feed her kids. Since then, she and the kids have been without any reliable transportation.
Fortunately, her church nominated her to OnRamp. We gave her multiple action steps to complete before receiving a vehicle, which she knocked out rapidly. She finally qualified for our program right when God brought us this ideal 2008 Odyssey minivan with only 78000 miles! For once, she and all her kids can fit in one car! They already have plans to visit out-of-town family for Easter weekend!
We owe a huge thanks to all our generous financial donors and to Rami Cerone and all the folks at Christian Brothers and Discount Tire for helping us find, buy, and prep this vehicle. For reference, the total cost to gift this van to this family is just under $10,000 in today’s inflated market. Huge thanks also to Taylor Carlson who took lead on interviewing and supporting this client.
One last picture to show what we give with every vehicle: a Bible. Our clients definitely do not have to be Christians or people of faith to qualify for our assistance. We will help anyone regardless of religious belief. However, since we do believe this particular book contains more HOPE than any other, and since our whole ministry is DRIVEN BY HOPE, we give a copy in hopes that it might bless our clients as it has blessed us.
