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The reason we started Good News Auto was to create our JumpStart Fund. The reason we created our JumpStart Fund was to help people in our community. We have both succeeded and failed in this. As we have learned the most effective ways to help people in our community we have met some amazing people. Brave people , many of the them single parents, who, in spite of many judgments out there, continue to ask for help, to make themselves vulnerable and accept help offered to them.
One such woman is Beth. We met Beth when we offered vehicle for sale through JumpStart (that’s a story for another post!). We didn’t have anything available at the time so off she went to purchase a vehicle on her own. She did her best and we didn’t meet her again until about a year later. She brought in a vehicle she had bought and we had to tell her the bad news: her vehicle had a lot of problems! She had done everything to the best of her ability to buy a safe vehicle for her and her children but, like many others, had not been successful. Her biggest concern was her children. Nothing but that mattered so we started working together to figure out how to solve her problem. She is a very determined person, she listened to all the hard information we told her and never gave up. She signed on for our Matched Savings program, attended all the Car Care workshops we offer and began working hard to fix her current vehicle. The very difficult part of this was the vehicle she had purchased needed a lot of attention, more than she (or us) believed was wise for her to invest. Then, the best part of what Good News Auto did happened. A long term customer graciously donated his vehicle. We have long dreamed of a being a repair shop where community takes care of each other and this was an amazing example of our dream becoming reality. The vehicle needed a significant amount of repair and with the help of our partner, Sherwood Park Alliance Church, we were able to complete those repairs and pass the vehicle on to Beth. She was beyond excited and so were we. In big ways, like donating a vehicle, and in small ways, like making a donation when attending our Car Care workshops , we are able to, as a community, help people continue their journey. |
