Yesterday, we were privileged to give a practically new Toyota to a single mom building a new life for herself and her daughter. She’s our 101st client! While we can’t divulge her identity or share her picture, we can tell you about how this courageous woman fled an abusive relationship in Houston, got clean and back on her feet with the help of Celebrate Recovery and Elizabeth House Maternity Home, grew as a parent through training from Methodist Children’s Home, and is now successfully employed and growing stronger by the day. This path of progress was at risk, however, when the old minivan she was driving died. She had spent everything she had for that vehicle, but it left her and her daughter stranded and was not repairable. Fortunately, one of our favorite advocates, Amber Diershaw (pictured above between our team members Jill Butler and Cassidy Somervill), nominated her to OnRamp and we accepted her at the same time we found and purchased (with the funds you all donated!) a Toyota Yaris with only 29,000 miles. It’s practically new! Now she has the reliable, fuel-efficient transportation she needs to keep on this road towards self-sufficiency, and has OnRamp’s continued support throughout this coming year. We’ve got her back!
Now to connect this good news with the tragic events that unfolded in Uvalde this week. There are many things that can and must be done to reduce mass shootings in our country. But most of those are out of our personal control or influence (besides voting every two years.) But there is one thing we can do through this ministry God has entrusted to us; something that is proven to reduce the amount of dysfunction, mental illness, and criminality in young adults. We can better support struggling parents, especially single parents like this client. We can come beside them and sacrificially help them with the essential things every parent needs such as reliable transportation, stable housing, good employment, quality medical care, and sufficient food. OnRamp exists in part to help parents raise their children more successfully by lifting the massive burden imposed by lack of transportation. We can’t fix everything. But we can fix this. If you’d like to support this vital work, please consider visiting our “Give” page and donating to help us provide more reliable vehicles to families and individuals in need.