That's a bunch of teenagers, doing something great for single moms.
My parents divorced when I was 2 or 3, and then my mom was struggling trying to get by and keeping 2 kids and herself fed and with a place to sleep.
My parents divorced when I was 2 or 3, and then my mom was struggling trying to get by and keeping 2 kids and herself fed and with a place to sleep.
Used cars were 50 bucks back then, in the early to mid 70s, but they were completely worn out. And every damn little thing that could wear out was worn out. That's the only reason those worn out 60s cars were sitting on used car lots, the replacement parts cost more than the cars were worth.
Around 20 students are working on cars each semester in the school, about an hour northwest of Richmond. The teacher, Shane Robertson, instructs kids on how to perform brake and tire repairs, change fluids, test batteries, and maintain heating and cooling systems.
“They get the real-life grit behind why they are really doing a task,” Robertson said in an interview with ABC. “This is somebody’s real car and you’re really making a change in the world.”
The program began in partnership with the nonprofit Giving Words, a local charity that works to support single parents by providing complimentary vehicles and car repairs.
Founder Eddie Brown and his wife were both single parents who had struggled with transportation issues before launching the nonprofit.
“So far, we’ve given over 60 cars away, and repaired more than 260,” Brown told WTVR
“They get the real-life grit behind why they are really doing a task,” Robertson said in an interview with ABC. “This is somebody’s real car and you’re really making a change in the world.”
The program began in partnership with the nonprofit Giving Words, a local charity that works to support single parents by providing complimentary vehicles and car repairs.
Founder Eddie Brown and his wife were both single parents who had struggled with transportation issues before launching the nonprofit.
“So far, we’ve given over 60 cars away, and repaired more than 260,” Brown told WTVR
For the news video of the above, word for word: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA5k9qmEihU
It's a complicated world, and there are many odd ways that cars end up being given to charities, one is for a tax write off, one might be (darned if I know) when people without next of kin die and their cars are suddenly abandoned. Maybe the many cars that are impounded by the county or cities after being abandoned on the streets and ticketed for enough months, end up in these charities. I don't know.
But I know that rarely does a single mom have any spare money for repairs, and I can tell you that a broken radiator is 800 just for parts, Shop rate labor is now around 300 an hour, up 50 an hour from just 2 years ago. I shit you not.
And there ain't many people who can afford to fix up a run down ol car, and it's the path to perpetual poverty to be without reliable transportation, as IF there is public transportation, the TIME wasted on a bus, trolley, or train, takes away all a persons time to take car of family.
20 years ago I didn't have a commuter, I just had my 69 R/T, and that was 12 dollars a day to drive to work, and 20 minutes. So, I spent many months taking the San Diego Trolley 3 days a week, and driving the R/T twice a week, and that trolley took about 75 min each direction. So, 2.5 hours wasted to commute to a job that a car could simply take 40 minutes a day to achieve. Time is money too. It's valuable and important to have as much time off work as possible to enjoy living. Even if it's just relaxing.
I know what it's like to do a daily job without reliable transportation. And how damn expensive it is to fix up old cars. I never had a new car until I was 40. So, the first 20 some years after high school, was all old cars.
But single moms? They don't get time to relax, they got kids full time. So they need a reliable car that won't drown them in debt in repairs, so they can spend more time raising their kids, because without a parent spending time raising a kid, that's probably going to turn out to be a person with serious problems, a lifetime of them. If that can be prevented with a reliable car? We got to recognize and respect those that can help.
