After having his car vandalized four times, Jordan Addison said it would cost $2,500 to fix the damage. And Addison says he believes he was targeted for being gay.
"The first time there were some homophobic slurs keyed into the side of it," the Roanoke, Virginia, college student told WDBJ7-TV. "Then the second time I had [die] keyed into it."
Addison says the vandals damaged his car both when it was parked at his home and on campus. And despite wanting to have the car fixed, Addison wasn't sure he could afford it. "[F]or a college student that's a lot of money," he said.
But the manager of a local auto shop stepped in and not only repaired Addison's car for free but also enlisted the help of several other auto specialists to give the car a substantial upgrade.
"Once I saw the vandalism that was done to it I said that's uncalled for we're gonna fix your car that's the least we can do," said Richard Henegar Jr., manager of Quality Auto Paint and Body.
Henegar says his shop and 10 other businesses (Parts Unlimited in Vinton, Advance Auto Parts, Moon's Auto Body, Rice Toyota, Val's Automotive, The Rod Shop, B&C Exterminating, Twists & Turns, AJ's Landscaping, and Sunnybrook Auto Spa) went to work on Addison's car, giving it a new paint job, tires, tinted windows, a new stereo and security system. He estimates the total value of the new parts to be over $10,000.
"We can't afford to do this ourselves," Henegar said of the outside help. "We might have all the good intentions in the world but I can't finance something like this ourselves."
"It looks great," Addison said. "It hasn't looked that great the entire time I've had it."