OnRamp has bought, donated, and repaired more than a few vehicles over the years - well over 100 at this point. Through that work, we’ve learned a great deal about how to buy, sell, maintain, and enjoy affordable, reliable vehicles. Blake Jennings, our President, and Rami Cerone, our Head of Vehicle Acquisition, have launched a new podcast, Behind the Wheel with OnRamp, to share these lessons.
“War is a defeat for humanity.” Pope John Paul II
As we grieve the violence in Eastern Europe and pray for Ukraine’s deliverance, it would be easy to assume this war’s suffering will remain foreign to our small, Texas town. Images of children sheltering in basements and homes burning move us to empathy, but rightly feel half-a-world away. We feel insulated in the heartland of the Unites States, safe from the devastation of this invasion.
And yet, John Paul was right. War anywhere is a defeat for humanity everywhere because, in this globally connected world, all suffering spreads. And sadly, it tends to hurt the most vulnerable far worse than it hurts the rest of us. At the moment, the expansion of suffering comes primarily in the form of rapidly rising prices for essential goods. According to the World Bank, the war has already driven up the price of wheat 67% over just the last month, which is not a surprise as Russia and Ukraine produce more than a quarter of the world’s wheat supply. Corn has likewise risen 26% so far in 2022. And the staple everyone’s talking about, gasoline, continues to reach shocking prices per gallon. Let’s look at this one in detail.
Vanessa, our 95th client, is a woman of great faith and charity. She is helping to raise her great-grandson, serves as a greeter in her church, and hopes to be a light for Jesus at her job at the Brazos Valley Coalition of Governments. Through that job, she had effectively saved up enough money to buy a reliable vehicle. But then a family member suffered a financial crisis. True to form, Vanessa generously emptied her savings to help out. She was forced to rely on her granddaughter for transportation, but this required her granddaughter to miss work. They simply couldn’t get ahead. So Jay Meador, one of our most faithful advocates in BCS, nominated Vanessa to us for a vehicle.
OnRamp donated two cars yesterday and one today, all to hard-working single moms! All three asked us to keep their identities and pictures private, which we’re more than happy to do. But we can share a little context so you’ll see how God is using your generosity to bring FREEDOM to vulnerable moms and kids in our community.
Yesterday was a crazy day tackling an unexpected challenge our single-parent clients face. Three months ago, OnRamp gave a Toyota Sienna to one of our clients, a single mom of five kids under six years old. Though Toyotas tend to be as reliable as they come, this particular minivan’s engine suffered a major failure (a cam phaser broke for those who are interested). She’s in her 12-months of full support from OnRamp, so we’ll pay to have it fixed. But here’s the problem: this is a major repair requiring at least a week to complete if parts are readily available. If not, it could take a couple weeks. But this client must get to work and get her oldest kids to school and youngest to daycare.
Presenting OnRampDFW Client #1!!!! We are so excited to share this remarkable story. We at OnRamp in BCS have labored this last year to train and equip a phenomenal team of leaders in Dallas who launched OnRampDFW a few months ago. Though they use our processes, systems, and expertise, they are an independent 501c3 called by God to build their own OnRamp ministry to serve the thousands of individuals in need in the greater Dallas/Ft Worth area. Two months ago they chose their first clients, Isaac and Nadia! These parents of six kids moved to the United States from South Sudan in 1999, fleeing the religious persecution that destroyed their home and endangered their lives.
“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious." ― Obi-Wan Kenobi
Though aimed at Mos Eisley Spaceport, Obi-Wan might as well have been describing the current used car market in America (yes, I am a mega Star Wars fan… originals only, though). Easily half of the used car ads I have seen this month on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist are either scams or, at a minimum, grossly dishonest. Increasing prices and dwindling supply have drawn countless crooks to the market to make an easy buck off of unsuspecting and uninformed buyers. DO NOT BECOME ANOTHER VICTIM. OnRamp is here to educate and prepare you to find and buy a reliable vehicle from an honest seller.
Our 91st OnRamp client, Miranda Locke’s infectious smile made yesterday’s donation a true delight! This single mom of 4 kids under eight years old (when does she ever sleep!!) has been through incredible hardships in the last few years, which have left her and her kids without any vehicle or any money to purchase a vehicle. She needs to travel almost 400 miles per week for work, church, her kids’ schools and daycare, medical appointments, and counseling.
Looking for an illustration of “hard work”? You will find none better than OnRamp’s most recent client, LaTisha. This single mom of four young children, eleven and younger, works ⅔ time at Walmart to pay the bills while taking a full load of classes at Sam Houston State, a 45-mile journey each way. She must balance getting the kids to school and doctors appointments, working evenings, getting to Huntsville three days a week for classes, and somehow finishing all her homework whenever her kids finally fall asleep. I cannot fathom the amount of effort this women expends to provide for her family!
Before you dismiss this email because you’re already a safe driver, please take two minutes to watch and ensure that you’re taking the steps needed to protect you, your passengers, and your vehicle. And please consider sharing this crucial information with other drivers in your life, especially newer drivers who may not know these steps.
Join us in celebrating OnRamp client #89. We actually shared this family’s story with you a couple of months ago when they were parked on our waiting list. The mom, dad, and three kids rely on a single vehicle: a 20 year old SUV with a failing transmission, no AC or heater, and only 1 working window. And when it rains, the car leaks. When they initially applied, they estimated their weekly travel to be 200 miles. But when we asked them to actually track it, it turned out to be 500 miles per week!
Without a doubt, this was one of our sweetest donations ever. Sue serves as a cook at The Langford and works with the Memory Care Residents who suffer from Alzheimers or Dementia. My own grandfather, a kind and intelligent man, died of Alzheimers years ago, and seeing the toll this disease took on his mind and body gave me a deep appreciation for people like Sue who go out of their way to share Jesus’ compassion and joy with these residents. This is a calling that takes incredible grace.
We are so excited to share a MAJOR resource OnRamp has been working on for the last four months: ten Instructional Videos on our brand new YouTube channel covering all aspects of car purchase and ownership! These videos cover topics including how to buy a used car and not get scammed, safe driving, auto insurance essentials, what to do in an accident, how to care for your tires or change a flat tire, basic auto maintenance, and many more.
God allowed OnRamp to squeeze in one more vehicle donation before Christmas, a Camry to a hard-working single mom of two young kids. She attends Blinn where she’s working hard towards a degree in health care so she can provide a better life for her children. She also works as many hours as possible at a local grocery store. But all of these endeavors require reliable transportation. When her previous vehicle died a few months ago, all of her progress was thrown into jeopardy.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a startup charity in possession of many clients in need, must be in want of outstanding volunteers.
Points to whomever identifies the source of that line (hint: I never would have known it without my wife’s help!) It is, indeed, true that the greatest need in launching a new charity is not money; it’s volunteers.
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!”
Weeks of prayer and hard work culminated in our biggest donation ever yesterday (Dec 7) as we gifted a pair of vans to two amazing charities in Brenham, Texas. I struggle to find words that capture the joy I felt crowding in the tiny, yet beautiful confines of the Washington county tax office to gift a massive 15-passenger van to Adult and Teen Challenge and a mint Honda Odyssey to Our Daughters’ House. Add them up, and we were a 36’ long caravan of vans from BCS to Brenham - our biggest donation ever by value (vans are pricey!), tonnage (and heavy!), and impact (they will each serve dozens if not hundreds of clients in the coming years!) Let me share a bit about each of these amazing organizations to help you see why OnRamp invested so much time and treasure to partner with them.
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,”
