LETTERS TO:
Walmart Helping in Olathe area with Free Transportation
The Managers of *** ***** Care Center wish to nominate
Charles ***** to receive a new vehicle because he is
truly deserving. During this past year, his family has
crossed some major paths. His wife has had respiratory problems,
in and out of the hospital several times per month.
He is the only income supporting his household of 5.
(himself, wife, and three children with disabilities)
The car he has is broken down and he is too proud to ask for assistance
for himself. he walks approximately 15 to 20 miles to
work. He is very dedicated to his job and can not
financially afford a car to transport him or
his family to the store, hospital, or anywhere else
they need to go. Most of his income goes toward providing
what little he can for his family, and his
wifes medical bills. They are now wanting her placed in a
nursing home because of her illness. They thought that
she would not make it much longer. She was the back bone
of the family, and she is not capable of contributing
to help support the family any longer. We wish that you can please help our
coworker and friend in need.
Thank you,
All the Management staff at **** **** Care Center
Dear Sunflower,
It's been a really rough year for
my family. It started in January just a few days after my son Nick turned 8. He was sexually
assaulted by our teenage neighbor and his younger brother on the other side of our duplex. We
were living in Grandview in Sec. 8 housing because I needed to take a year off from working
because of my medical conditions. I have a rare disease called Pseudo tumor Cerebra and the
pain was keeping me in bed most of the time. When the assault happened my son told me
immediately and I reported it to the police, the Child Abuse Hotline and to Moccsa. My son had
to go through so much including taking HIV tests, talking to officers and court attourneys and
every day we were being harassed by the people that did this to him. They called him names,
threw things at the house, wrote things on the side of the house and tore up my van by beating
on it and taking parts out from underneath until it was undrivable. I was finally physically
able to start workin
g in April and we moved out the first week of June. After months of Nick going through therapy
the case finally made it's way into court and the boys that did this to him admitted their
guilt and plea bargained for a lessor sentence.
On October 2nd I lost my job because I took
off a half hour early because I was sick one evening. I have been desperately looking for a job
since then. It's not easy trying to find a job without a car and yesterday I received an
eviction notice from my apartment complex. I have no idea what to do. I have called all the
agencies in my community for help and no one can. I applied for AFDC on Nov. 1st and they still
haven't even said yes or no if I can receive $234 a month. I do not have any family except for
my children.
My resume is all over the internet thru
Hotjobs.com , Monster.com etc. and I want to work. I had 3 interviews at Gateway and they
didn't call me back. I have no clue why. I don't like to ask for help but, I don't know what
else to do.
Thank you for listening.
Jackie, Amy and Nick
Dear WALMART and Car Santa
My name is Michelle , I am the program coordinator for Mother to Mother Ministry
in Kansas City, Kansas. Our office is located at 2220 Central Avenue in
the Catholic Charities Building. The telephone number there is do a lot of my work from
home and in the field. T I am the only employee for Mother to Mother Ministry (MTMM)
I started out as a partner mother, ie. a mother of low-income. I progressed in the
program to be a board member representing mothers like myself, and to a support mother or a
friend that sort of mentors, and now I coordinate the program. I am still just right at
the edge of the poverty guidelines myself. I love my job and the mothers and children in
our program. I know how hard it is to get ahead and to just stay afloat. When I saw
your advertisement on Met Net TV I thought this is an answer to prayer. If I had the
means I would go buy some used cars and/or vans for some of our moms in the program, you see my
car blew a head gasket. When I was still a partner mother. A so called friend said
he would fix it for a couple hundred dollars. He did but he didn't machine the head and 2
weeks later it blew again. I was back to square 0 and no more money to fix it. I
live in Bonner Springs the public transportation here is limited to Bonner and to Kc Ks to
certain places on certain days and times.
I called the program coordinator at the time her name was Mildred she listened to me I
told her if she knew of anyone giving away a car to let me know it wasn't but a couple of weeks
later when she called me with a 1990 Ford Tempo a support mom's sister was donating to the
program and out of all of those in need I was going to get it because I was the only one in
need that could drive a stick shift and that is what it had. Sorry but I am a very
loquacious person and this Ministry and these women are dear to my heart. I called the
radio station a few minutes ago and I was told to e-mail as many of the stories in as I liked
but to make sure they were factual and sent in separately so here goes the first one.
Kianna ****greatly needs your assistance in obtaining a vehicle. She is without
transportation again, :( and doesn't have the money to buy a car/van. A van would
be the preferred vehicle for her since she has 5 children the youngest just turned 1 year old
and the oldest is in the 2nd grade, I believe. She has one car that has sat outside her
house I think since I have known her it might have ran once but I don't remember it.
Then she got a little old junky station wagon, I don't think she paid but a couple of hundred
dollars for it but that can be a whole lot of money if you are only living on a few hundred per
month. It was barely big enough for them, and it didn't last it was in very bad repair.
It was going to cost more than it was worth to fix so she didn't get it fixed nor could she
afford to I'm sure.
I was with her one evening when we saw a nice looking van with a for sale sign in the window
she asked if I would stop so I did. She called the number it was very clean on the
outside and inside when we called he said it runs great the catch was it had 4 out of 16
lifters that were bad. He wanted $570.00 for the van. A friend of mine that is a
mechanic said that he would look at it for me for her for free and take a listen at it.
That lifters could just be noisy and the van could last a long time, and oil additives could
possibly even quiet them down. But to fix them you would have to take off the whole top
of the engine and they were a pain in the butt. Besides, she didn't have $570.00.
He showed us a car for $200.00 and would take payments on it but I believe it was the Manifold
that had a crack in it the gas fumes were horrible. It was some elderly womans if Kianna
had a friend that could go to a junk yard and get a Manifold and put it on there cheap it would
be a very good buy.
She struggles to keep a telephone on. Luckily she got it back on again recently her
number . (She doesn't have a washer or a dryer this is something else I have been trying
to help her to get. I haven't been successful yet. My father and his wife have a
nice one for $250.00 I would like to be able to buy that one for myself and just give Kianna
mine which is in decent shape but I really can't afford to do that either.)
It would just make my day and I know it would make Kianna and her children's Christmas if
they were to get a DECENT car/van and get some DECENT treatment, and have a DECENT break for a
change.
Contrary to what a lot of people think, Kianna and all of these women I work with are not
lazy, most of them are just tired from having to fight all the time just to survive. That
is a broad statement that I just made but you can quote me on it if one of our mothers should
win as far as saying it from personal experience as far as from my own life because I have been
there and I am still there in a lot of ways.
When Kianna came over to my house to visit we had Subway, I bought it for us all on the
Sunday special, afterwards she got a broom and proceeded to sweep up the mess her children had
made on my carpet. I told her I had a vacuum she didn't have to do that. But it
took me back to when I didn't have a vacuum cleaner when I was living at ****************
****** and I went across the hall to ask my neighbor if I could borrow her vacuum cleaner.
She said she didn't have one. I said, "then how do you keep your carpets so clean?" She
then proceeded to show me how to brush (or actually sweep because you had to put some muscle
into it) your carpets with a broom. She then got my vacuum and not only did that area but
my whole house. I have back problems and vacuuming is hard on my back so I was very
grateful for her helping me that day.
Not last night but the night before last I called her she told me she needed to get to the
store, I was exhausted from just getting back from seeing family in Georgia for Thanksgiving.
I told her if she couldn't find a ride to give me a call and I would take her. She didn't
find a ride but she didn't call me they just ate left overs again. I took her to get some
things yesterday when I was in town to see if she had ever gotten there that is when I found
out that she hadn't made it to the store yet. When we have outings for Mother to Mother
Ministry I try to give her a ride but with my 14 year old daughter in a 1990 Ford Tempo it is
kind of hard often times we do it but not with the car seats that we should have. There
is just no way, there is not enough room.
It would be nice if she had a car so she could be independent. She has talked to me about
wanting to go and take her GED classes. She could go to her son's school events easier.
She could go to doctor appointment's easier. She mentioned maybe going to school further
or getting a job too, having a car and taking the children to schools and/or day care would be
much easier than trying to do this on a bus. She would be wore out before she ever got to
school or work if she had to do it the other way.
I am sure I am forgetting a lot of important somethings. I wish I had more time to write
this e-mail than just a couple of minutes. I am in the middle of planning our Holiday
Party for MTMM it is going to be held at Jeepers at the Great Plains Mall this year it is our
present for all of the volunteers in our program. But as I mentioned earlier I am the
only employee and I am part time.
Sincerely,
Michelle ****
Ps. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Kianna or I.
Thanks for your time and consideration in this matter.
Dear Sunflower Mazda
I am writing this to tell you about my cousin who is having a very bad time in his life right
now. He has gone through a divorce and custody battle for his son and between the lawyer fees,
over due bills (that the ex left for him) and back child support, now he is without a car. The
car he had before this one fell apart so my dad found him this cheap car to get him by for
awhile. He was hoping it would last till he could get back on his feet but it didn’t last
long before the engine blew up in it too. Most of his money goes toward child support and
trying to keep his house so that his son can have a home with him some day.
Here’s the big problem, my aunt doesn’t drive, so my uncle has to take her to work and then
take my cousin to work and then pick them both up at night. All this driving is starting
to really take a toll on my uncle’s health. My cousin can’t afford to buy a car so he has
to rely on his dad and he really hates it.
His parents help him as much as they can but his father has a lot of health problems and is
disabled so it takes most of my aunt’s income to pay there bills and doesn’t leave much
extra if any.
I heard about the car give away on your show and decided to tell you my cousins story. If
you can find it in your hearts to PLEASE give him a car, it will take a great load off of him,
his mom, and his dad.
Thank You for taking the time to read this and consider my plea.
Happy Holidays and Best Wishes
Sincerely,
Ryan ***** age 16
Independence
Atchison , Ks
hello i am 11 years old and me and my sister is going to write you about our mom. she has a car that is losing its transmisiun and some other bad things she has to drive about 40 miles one way to her work to make sure we have things i am scared that her car is going to stop on the way home or to work. she never complanes but i no she is upset about it all she has alot of doctor bills because of her problem and cant affurd anuther car. please help her if you can cause i love her alot and dont want anything bad to happen to her. thank you chandler ******