When Marcy Bray's overworked car finally died, she, like so many others, found help at the Bishop Sullivan Center.
"I got three kids under the age of four and all of them have been diagnosed with asthma so you can imagine all the doctors visits I do during season change, to and from school, to and from work, for the kids, grocery stores, church, everything," she said.
The center runs several programs to help the community. They collect and distribute donations - a lot at this time of year- and help people find jobs. They try to help people get to work, too.?
Phil Smith is the director of their "Drive KC to Work" program.They find cars worth around four thousand dollars- just enough to be reliable - and sells them at a fraction of the price to families without a vehicle, who have been referred to their agency.
"The most expensive vehicle as far as what we charge the consumer or client is a thousand dollars," Smith said.
The prospective purchasers are reviewed and interviewed.?
"They have to currently be working full time for a minimum of ninety days," he added.
While donated toys aren't too hard to store, cars are more of a problem. That's why the city tow lot came forward, donating secure storage space at their facility.
Nathan Pare explained what motivated the Tow Services Division to help; "In this case it was just an opportunity for us to provide assistance to a really great foundation, good organization. They had a need and we had the ability to help them the best way we could, so it was really a no-brainer for us."
Marcy Bray says buying a car through this program gave her more than a dependable daily driver.
"It definitely gave me hope," she said of her 2004 Oldsmobile Intrigue.
Smith says he's very grateful for the free and secure storage space, but asserts their inventory is always out stripped by the need.
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