Getting a free automotive for Christmas is not simply an incredible reward — for Cassie Ward of Mount Pearl, it is life-changing.
“Surreal, utterly surreal,” mentioned a tearful Ward, sitting within the driver’s seat of a refurbished Kia Soul. “I do not even know what to assume. That is wonderful.”
Ward was the recipient of the Collision Clinic’s Enriching Lives automotive giveaway program in St. John’s, an initiative that items a completely rebuilt car, together with the primary 12 months of insurance coverage protection, to a household through the vacation season.
That is the nineteenth 12 months the enterprise has given a automotive to a profitable candidates, however this Christmas season, candidates appeared to precise extra want for the reward than in earlier years, mentioned normal supervisor Sharon Wells.
Apart from not having the ability to afford transportation, Wells mentioned, lots of this 12 months’s candidates expressed difficulties buying meals for his or her households. She mentioned many candidates additionally shared tales about job losses, and struggles offering for his or her family members as a result of rising price of residing.
An outdoor choice committee is tasked with selecting the winner, Wells mentioned, which was a really difficult job due to how a lot demand there was for the car this 12 months.
Wells additionally mentioned it was tough to discover a automotive to provide away this 12 months on account of provide shortages of automotive components. Whereas Collision Clinic often tries to buy and restore a automotive over the summer time, Wells mentioned, this 12 months’s car wasn’t prepared till the final minute due to how tough it was to discover a appropriate automotive to refurbish.
Regardless of the challenges, Wells says having the ability to change a minimum of one individual’s life each Christmas makes the undertaking greater than worthwhile.
“All of us really feel very heat once we know that we have helped anyone,” mentioned Wells. “It’s totally humbling, to say the least.”
Ward says she lately began a brand new place in a job she loves within the Goulds space. And not using a automotive, she mentioned, it was difficult to commute and he or she usually needed to ask folks for rides or pay for expensive taxis.
Ward says she utilized to the Enriching Lives program to assist assist herself and her youngsters, so when she discovered she had been chosen, she was overcome with emotion.
“I used to be at work once I received the cellphone name, and I fell to the ground crying,” mentioned Ward. “And I cried for about three hours afterwards, ‘trigger it was simply surreal.”
Collision Clinic workers restore the automotive whereas its sister firm, Auto Components Community, offers the brand new automotive components wanted. Ward says she could not wait to take her youngsters for a spin in her new automotive, a Christmas reward she says she’ll always remember.
“To know that they do that yearly, on their very own dime and their very own time, to assist anyone else is simply … they deserve the vehicles, they do,” she mentioned. “That is going to change all the pieces.”
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