Yesterday, we partnered with yet another hard-working single mom on her journey towards self-sufficiency. While she’s asked us to keep her name and picture private, we can tell you that she has three children, one of whom has special needs. She works in food services for a local school district and dreams of going back to school to become a dietitian. Her greatest goal is to help her disabled son become more self-sufficient so he can live his life to the fullest. She is a loving mom whose greatest strength is her patient faith that God will provide in HIs timing. She proved that faith by waiting seven long months between being nominated to OnRamp and finally receiving her vehicle, a Ford Edge SUV, yesterday (tip: 2010+ Fords with the 3.5L V6 are a good buy for reliability). Thank you to the generous donor who gifted OnRamp this vehicle, as well as Christian Brothers for helping us get it ready. Now this inspiring mom can continue to provide for her kids and pursue her goals.

But now to share the NEED. Doing this ministry is EXPENSIVE. There’s no way around that. For context, every time we say “yes” to a client, it costs us at least $10,000. We said ‘yes’ to twelve in the first 3 months of 2023. In addition to gifting vehicles to new clients, we’re also repairing vehicles for the ~40 clients we have in their first year of new car ownership. That’s a vital part of our ministry that allows us to stay engaged with them and help them make significant progress towards long term self-sufficiency. But in just the first three months of this year, we spent an average of $18,598 PER MONTH on repairs and tires for all these vehicles. Costs to purchase and repair, and even costs of parts and tires have skyrocketed the last two years.

So here is the NEED: donations and grants have been slow while costs have been high. As a result, our bank account has fallen to a point where we can no longer buy vehicles for waiting clients. We need to raise $25,000 ASAP to be able to start buying again, and need to bring in a consistent $69,000 per month to continue to say ‘yes’ to new clients at the rate we did in Q1 of this year. This is a powerful way to show Jesus’ love to local families in need. If you can help, please reach out to us or check out our “Give” page. Monthly donations are especially helpful for planning purposes and we are able to accept gifts via check, credit card, PayPal, or stock transfer.