When a car is a lifeline: Sarasota-Manatee partnership helps some with transportation woes

When exhaust fumes began seeping through the vents of their van, Rebecca Bruton and her husband could no longer ignore the truth: the old Nissan Quest was shot.

For the Bradenton couple, the timing last December couldn’t have been worse.

The holidays were upon them, they were still playing catch-up after a move from Pennsylvania with their four small kids earlier in the year, and they just signed a mortgage for a house in Parrish to escape skyrocketing rents.

With nothing left for repairs and used car costs through the roof, the couple was stuck.

“It was bad,” Rebecca said.

Like thousands of working families in Sarasota and Manatee counties, Rebecca, 32, and her husband were caught in a trifecta of crises – transportation issues entangled with rapidly rising housing costs and a lack of affordable child care.

Then one day in January, Rebecca stumbled on a surprising solution.

As a client of Mothers Helping Mothers in Sarasota, she was visiting when she asked on a whim:

“Is there any chance you guys partner with someone who gives away cheap vehicles?”

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A life-changer

Cheri DeVries is familiar with the cycle of hardship for working families.

As executive director of Mothers Helping Mothers, she routinely meets clients for whom a reliable car is a gateway out of poverty as well as a means to keep working and middle-class families afloat.

“The hurdles that people without transportation have to get through,” she said. “I don’t blame a lot of our clients for being completely paralyzed, not knowing where to start.”

For many families in the housing crisis, little to nothing is left over for repairs if a car breaks down. In an area lacking reliable public transportation, moms and dads scramble to get to jobs or transport their kids to childcare.

It's a problem that local caseworkers have described as a “gap in service” for the region.

Several years ago, Mothers Helping Mothers partnered with Suncoast Community Church and its auto program.

In some cases, Suncoast’s program sends the broken-down cars of clients to trusted mechanics. The mechanics make repairs at discounted prices covered by Suncoast.

But a big part of the program involves the donation of dilapidated autos. Suncoast fixes them and gives them to partners’ clients. In return, donors receive a receipt for a tax write-off.

A nearly $200,000 grant from the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation to Mothers Helping Mothers has expanded the program.

With car donations drying up nationwide in recent years, the funds can be used by Mothers Helping Mothers to buy used cars through its partnership with Suncoast.

The maximum price they can pay is $6,000. If the resale value is over that, donors will receive a tax write-off receipt on the remaining amount.

What’s more, Mothers Helping Mothers refers clients to Suncoast’s free monthly oil changes, which are open to the general public.

“We’re trying to make sure they know what’s available to keep them going,” DeVries said.

Almost 170 cars have been given away to qualifying families in the last six years through the program, according to Susan Hickman, Suncoast’s outreach director.

Participants have to be clients of Mothers Helping Mothers, or other community partners, and meet requirements, Hickman added.

“There is a misperception that free cars are free,” she said. “They are not.”

Clients need to provide insurance, registration and a driver’s license. They also must take a budgeting class with a provided financial advisor to ensure that they are self-sustaining. In addition, the advisor helps them find a new job or side hustle they can do with the car.

“A lot of cars that we give away are from Point A to Point B cars,” she said. “The minute you get it, you start saving up for another one.”

The free oil change on the church property is held the last Saturday of the month, complete with food trucks. It is open to anyone, though participants must register through Suncoast’s website.

Meanwhile, the need for cars is great.

The more they get, the more people they can help, like one single mother who needed to take three to four buses to her child’s daycare and her work, a two-hour journey one way.

The impact of a donated car for families like that is beyond words, Hickman added.

“It just changes people’s lives.”

A blessing

Within a day of Rebecca asking that question at Mothers Helping Mothers, an email arrived in her inbox.

After Rebecca and her husband completed budgeting homework from Mothers Helping Mothers, the results were sobering.

Their household had taken a massive hit since the move from Pennsylvania. While Rebecca’s husband had a good job with Manatee County, salaries for her work in supply and warehouse logistics were a fraction of what she made up north.

Meanwhile, childcare costs were double.

“I would have literally been paying more than I was making,” she said.

When the couple bought a house in Parrish, depleting their savings for a down payment, the calculated mortgage was less than their rent.  But with that came a longer commute and a growing need for a second vehicle.

In January, days after completing their homework, Rebecca heard back.

Suncoast had acquired a used Dodge Caravan, which Mothers Helping Mothers paid for using the Barancik grant. The light gold van – spacious, fixed up and cleaned, clocking 180,000 miles – was now theirs.

“When I got the news, I was in shock,” Rebecca said.

What’s more, the financial advisor helped Rebecca, an artist, map out a plan to use the van to carry her paintings and jewelry to local markets to sell.

“I felt like I got my freedom back,” Rebecca said of the many ways the van improved their lives – financially and psychologically.

“It’s really a blessing.”

For more information about the program, contact Suncoast Community Church or book an appointment online with Mothers Helping Mothers.

This story comes from a partnership between the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. Saundra Amrhein covers the Season of Sharing campaign, along with issues surrounding housing, utilities, child care and transportation in the area. She can be reached at samrhein@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota-Manatee partnership provides low-cost cars for some in need