By Pat Lawrence
Linda has some Good News about her new Nissan 240SX. |
Linda was the first person from Mingo County to get a car from the
Good News Mountaineer Garage and it didn’t come a minute too
soon. Linda and her fourteen year old son live in Williamson and she
is in training to be an EKG technician. Three days a week she drives
27 miles each way to Logan to attend classes. Her Geo Metro died and
she had no way to get to school. Debra Sammons, her caseworker at
the Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) picked up the
phone and called the Good News Mountaineer Garage.
The Good News Mountaineer Garage is a non profit organization that
fixes up donated cars and sells them for one dollar to families who
need them to make the transition from welfare to work. In October
2001, they began giving out cars to families in Kanawha and Lincoln
counties as a pilot program funded by the DHHR. Since then the GNMG
has given out 175 cars and recently expanded to cover eight additional
counties: Cabell, Putnam, Wayne, Logan, Boone, Jackson, Mason and
Mingo counties.
“I had just sent in the referral because we knew Linda’s
car was on its last leg. I never expected that they could find her
a car in less than a week.” Sammons reported.
But the Good News Mountaineer Garage had just the car for Linda. A
Charleston lawyer and her husband had donated their car: a 1990 Nissan
240SX with 136,000 miles on it. This car had been his hobby for some
time and he had just rebuilt the engine, put on new tires and replaced
the brakes.
Still, this was a sporty car and it would need a mature person with
some mechanical know-how to take care of it. Linda’s dad was
a mechanic and she grew up working on cars. She was sure that between
the two of them they could keep this car in good working order.
Debra Sammons said that Linda was thrilled to get the car. “She
came right over to the office to show it to me. She made me take her
picture with the car. The most important thing is that she’s
still in school and when she finishes her training, she’ll get
a good job and get off public assistance.”
The family that donated the car was equally pleased with the tax
benefits. Car donors can take the value of the vehicle as a charitable
deduction from their federal income taxes if they itemize. In addition,
the GNMG receives a limited number of state tax credits from the West
Virginia Economic Development Office’s Neighborhood Investment
Program (NIPS). Qualified donors can deduct a portion of the value
of the vehicle directly from their state taxes owed if the NIPS tax
credits are available.
If you would like to learn more about how you can help a family get
on the road to work, call 1-866-GIVE CAR or check out their website
at www.goodnewsmountaineergarage.com.
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