PAST RECIPIENTS for those in need

To All Concerned,

My Name is Dave Pickens,

There was a time a while back that my wife needed a good gas mileage vehicle.

I had had a stroke, blood clots in the lungs, and more since.

one day she emailed cars4christmas for help due to our vehicle was dying & she was having to drive long distances to where i was hospitalised!

WE had already begun to think about starting a non profit organization due to our own experiences with a crisis in our own lives!

Well, Due to cars4christmas coming through with a great GIFT of a gas efficient car, We now too are just now able to get our own full blown

non profit organization in full swing!

"Helping Families in need!"

So, If anyone EVER thinks that helping that one person will never amount to much, Think again!

we are now helping others to better their lives just as cars4christmas helped us in the need we had!

So, you see, you never know what your Gift of a vehicle to cars4christmas may end up doing for MANY others in the furure!

Thank you so very much for helping our family and making it possible for our non profit org. to come to life one day!

May God Bless cars4christmas.org and all who help them!

The Pickens Family

"Heavens Manna"

Ridgeway, MO.

I am submitting for William #####. He is in desperate need and my hubby. We have lost our house our car and all due to health reasons and now is about to loose his job without transportation then will be totally homeless. We are holding on bye a thread. He is great person. I got ill few years back and suffer with lupus. He has taken care of me our son and worked. We had our own business and lost it to because of financial situations with my health. We now live out of motel and have for several months now. Unable to get apartment cause of credit and cant seem to get enough money to get ahead. He works 12 hours a day and then comes home takes care of me and son and also he suffers from degenerative spine yet never complains and always in pain. We aren't able to make it to docs now and son also suffers from what they think is lupus and has several other problems. We have lost so much but still have each other. You are our last hope. Family will not help or cant and we are all alone accept for each other and God. Please take us into consideration. Marcia

Dear KYYS Santa's, I am the Team Leader for the 7 East oncology unit at The Cancer Institute located within Research Medical Center. I have a 19 year old girl that was diagnosed with Acute Mylegenous Leukemia this fall. She has been on our floor since October 25th. She has been through two rounds of chemo because the first round did not get her into remission. When this happens, the patient needs to go to bone marrow transplant quickly. Test results show that she is now in remission and as soon as she recovers from her chemo will be starting transplant preparations. This is a family in a lot of need. This patient is an American citizen. She was going to college when she was diagnosed with cancer. Her family is from Samoa. Her parents have come from Samoa to see her through transplant. Her family has limited funds. We have arranged for lodging at the hope lodge for her parents and her. I listed her address at the hospital, because this is it until she has recovered from her chemo. Her parents are staying here also. Soon she will start her transplant program at another area hospital, but that requires her to have transportation, which she does not have. The hope lodge cannot guarantee any transportation. Our unit has adopted them for Christmas, many of us are giving them our Christmas gift certificates, and we are using our funds designated for our Christmas party to help them. Unfortunately we cannot give them the one thing they really need, a car. We work with many ill patients with cancer, but this particular situation has touch ed us all in a way that is indescribable. As health care workers we deal with hardships all the time. This hardship extends across continents. They have no family here to help them with this emotional and financial stress. This patient is in a battle to survive. Having adequate transportation to get her to her appointments and treatments would be extremely helpful. Please help if you can. If you would consider this patient and her parents for a car for Christmas you can contact me at **********. I will know how to contact this patient and family, for now they are living at the hospital. Please feel free to obtain any further information from me that you may need to make a decision about this request. Sincerely, Shelley Team Leader 7East The Cancer Institute Kansas City

My name is Sandra ###### and I am an Early Childhood Special Education Teacher with the Lawrence Early Childhood Special Services (LECSS) program, Lawrence Public Schools. Over the last 6 years, I have had the opportunity to work with Tareena ******* and her family. Tareena is a single mother of 4 children, ages 8,5,3 and 8 months. I first became involved with the family when her oldest daughter, Jasmine, entered my classroom as a peer model. I worked with her second child, Cameron for 3 ½ years, to provide his special education services, as he has overall developmental delay, is blind, and has a severe seizure disorder. Tareena’s third child, Joshua, has Robert’s Syndrome, a form of dwarfism, and receives special education services from the LECSS program in a community preschool, as well. Her fourth child, Omega, was born towards the end of last semester and, as you might be able to tell by her name, is the last in line! Throughout the years, Tareena has continued to hold multiple jobs, go to nursing school in Kansas City, and follow through on the children’s medical appointments and surgeries, all without ever complaining of the hardships --- which brings me to the purpose of my letter. Over the last 3 weeks, Tareena has encountered several obstacles, including her inability to continue working so many hours in Lawrence, due to her class schedule and her children’s schedules. The following week, her care broke down in Kansas City on her way home from school and she was not bale to financially afford the repairs needed. As she no longer had transportation, she requested a leave of absence from nursing school until May, 2004. The final blow occurred when I was notified, on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, that Cameron’s Vagal Nerve Stimulator had developed an infection. Tareena immediately made accommodations for the other children, borrowed her mother’s car, and to him down to Wichita, where surgery was performed to remove the stimulator. As the stimulator was no longer able to interrupt the seizure activity to his brain, the end result has been increased seizure activity and a decreased appetite. Cameron now attends Kansas State School for the Blind (KSSB), which worked out well, since Tareena was in school in Kansas City and was readily available in the event of an emergency. Unfortunately, the series of events over the last 3 weeks have left her without transportation and reliant on nearby family members, when emergency situations have arose. As mentioned earlier, Tereena’s younger son has Robert’s Syndrome. Due to his short stature and the regressive nature of the disability, Joshua has a wheelchair that assists with mobility and will become a more permanent part of his life, as he gets older.

I am writing to you to nominate Tereena and her family as possible recipients of a vehicle from the Cars 4 Christmas organization. As you can tell, the family is reliant on transportation not only for her occupation, but also for her schooling out of town, and for the children’s medical needs and safety. Tareena has always been a woman who continuously works to better her own situation, which is why it is so important for her to finish nursing school and to acquire a better quality of life for her and her children. Throughout the six years, I have never known her to complain about her situation and have always know her to advocate for her own needs. This time, I would like to help and feel that the one thing the family need most to assist in getting them back on their feet is van that would allow her to get to and from school, would accommodate the wheel chair, and would be able to transport the whole family, in the event of an emergency.

Thank you so much for considering my request and for assisting families in need during this holiday season!

I would like to take this time to explain the situation that my best friend, Melanie, is in and why you should choose her as one of the lucky people to receive a car. Besides being my best friend for over 14 years, this woman is amazing, and I would not trade her for anyone in the world! She is always there for me and I try to be there for her whenever possible. About 2 years ago, the family had found Melanie’s husband at home not breathing. They thought he was dead. However, the paramedics were able to revive him and he was rushed to the hospital. The fortunate part is that he is still living today. The unfortunate part is that he is mentally incapable of taking care of himself. Melanie must care for him, and their 6 year old son, 24 hours each day. She must feed him via his feeding tube, change his diapers, bathe him, occupy him day and night, and take him to doctor’s appointments. He cannot walk, so Melanie must push him around in a wheelchair while still managing to keep track of their young son in the process. Currently, her husband is in the hospital with pneumonia and Melanie does not have transportation to visit him. Her car is history! You name it, it has happened to her car. The door handle fell off and she had to bungi cord the door closed, the heater is not working, and the brakes and alternator went out. Without a car, Melanie not only cannot get to the hospital to be with her husband, but she cannot drive their son to school and he is not on the bus route. Her son has been sick the last few days and not attended school, but Melanie is not certain how he will get to school when he is well enough to return. Melanie is a go-getter and would certainly help herself if she could. She has no money. She is a dependable worker who was at her job for 6 years prior to having to quit. It has been almost 2 years now since she had to quit her job to care for her husband who cannot be left unattended for one moment. She is relying on state assistance to buy groceries and could desperately use reliable transportation to take her son to school and visit her husband in the hospital. Once her husband is released from the hospital it will be vital Melanie have a car to get him home from the hospital and to take him to all the follow-up doctor’s appointments he will need to maintain his physical health. I cannot think of a more deserving person to receive a car from 99.7 KY. I don’t understand how Melanie makes it through each day, but somehow she manages, and in the process she still has time to be my best friend. Please help her obtain reliable transportation so she can continue caring for her husband and son.

I am hoping you can help my Mother brother and me. My Mom is always helping others and for more that a year we have had no car to get to the store or get medicine. The old car broke when my Mom was helping a kid like my brother who has Autism. My Mom has been sick for along time and I wish someone would give her a break for once. My Mom thinks I am mad at her because we don't go places anymore. I am mad that my dad does not pay his child support and my mom had to put him on the most wanted list of deadbeat dads. She sure could use a break and I hope she knows how important she is for keeping a roof over our heads and always going with out to make things better for my brother and I. Please help we are not picky and would take care of any car. Mt Mom really needs help

I don't know if you will ever get this letter, but hopefully you will. I'm writing to you because I have a wonderful most caring mother. She always tries to go out of her way and bring me the best. Until about two years ago, we have been going down hill because of No transportation. She always be on the bus, or half the time hopping rides or mostly walking. She has to walk in the cold weather. (Summer ,Spring or Fall also.) She is a Diabetic, she has high blood pressure and from the change of weather she be getting hospitalized. She tries to get from point a to b and c but half the time she came and has to walk, either she is running late, out of breath, or just have ran herself till she can't anymore. She is a single parent. Takes care of me, she tries to make my school meeting, and see that I attended to very well. A lot of things be hard to do without transportation and with dogs running after her, falling down the hills, also trouble going to stores, mostly she just can't do it. I am writing to you because she needs transportation for me but most of all because of her health. I don't want any Christmas gifts this year , I only want to get my mother some transportation.. That way she can get around like she needs too. Most of the problem is she don't have alot of money. She scrapes up money from her pouch. Since she has been out of work we couldn't do much. The cars she did have was a big delta 88, the bumper fell off and several problems happened. She couldn't affort the upkeep, when she could afford it she couldn't afford the gas, it was one or the other. So I hope Santa if you can bring my mother a nice 4 cylinder, automatic (gas Saver). That will be a dream come true , if you can help I just want to see her doing good, also it would be the biggest Christmas you can ever bring to my mother and me,

I know the list of people is so large, but please consider this person as a recipient of a car. Melanie has four children between the ages of 8 and 16. Her mother is not expected to live until Christmas because of heart problems and Melanie herself is not well. Her Mother lives in KC and Melanie is in need of a car not only to be able to have transportation to help out her mother , but to be able to take her children to school, etc. Melanie's husband works during the day and needs transportation foir that purpose. At this time. there is back rent due their landloard plus their previous landlord. Threats of evection have been made to Melanie and her family and unfortunately, there is no money for Christmas presents ar even a Tree. My family plans to help out with Christmas, but a car would be the answer to their prayers, Thank You so much for your consideration and merry Christmas to each and every one of you!! Sue

This is just a few of the People we have assisted in obtaining free transportation.

Natalie is 28 years old, homeless, and single mother of 2 (A son 11 and a daughter 6). Natalie has chronic health problems and was recently diagnosed with breast cancer .Natalie works a minimum wage job as a cook with no health benefits. She works many double shifts to help pay for a drafty motel room located next door to her employer. (She doesn't own a car)

Last winter Natalie's son was hospitalized with pneumonia. Only after his hospitalization would she willingly accept donations of blankets.

This Christmas she hopes to spend her day with her children doing volunteer work. She hopes to cook Christmas day at a sheltered workshop. She says to spend her time in such a way helps her get through the holiday, and demonstrates to her kids that there are less fortunate souls in the world.

I admire Natalie's coping skills. I believe she should be recognized for giving one of the most precious gifts she has to give ..... her time.

Marta is a single parent with 3 children : Karla 8 , Yasmine 5 and Tonya 3. Marta day starts at 5:00 am , fixes breakfast and get the children ready for school. Each morning she rides 3 city buses. One to take Tonya to daycare and one to take Yasmine and Karla to school and the third to get to her job by 7:00am. She gets off work at 3:00 pm and her 3 bus rides home to start over again. Although Marta has started a savings account to purchase a car, it will take a long while to do this, since she has 3 little ones to provide for.

She is a good and hardworking young mother. It would be so wonderful to know that this young family will no longer be standing out in the cold and dark mornings waiting for 3 buses and be spending warmer and longer time together.

Jari is a single 25 year old father of a special needs child. He has no family members that support him in the care of his child, but he makes no complaints or gripes. His daughter Jarica is 8 months old, born severely premature. She requires 24 hr care due to medical conditions involving heart monitors, oxygen, a feeding tube and suction machine. Jari must transport Jarica back and forth to Children's Mercy Hospital for routine and emergency care on public transportation. He gets one home care visit from a nurse per week but for the most part he is the sole caregiver of his child, ( Mother has no involvement). He is unable to work at this time due to the care of his child and has no way to get there is he could. He survives on the love of his daughter and faith in god. He is a remarkable young man.

My father has been fighting a terminal illness. He has a very rare lung disease. He has to take Chemo treatments just to keep him going. He has just filed for disability and won't receive it until Feb. 06. He still works, but it takes a lot out of him. My Parents are really in a financial bind. My mother is also on disability and does not drive. She depends on my dad to get her to places she needs. They are about to foreclose on their home that we all grew up in, not to say their truck was just repo'd. My dad hates to depend on his kids to help him. He needs a way to get to work and especially his Chemo treatments every other Friday. My dad loves to drive a ford truck, but will drive any truck. I am in the process of looking for a place for them to live, but can't afford a truck for them. Can you please help my Father out? It would be a Very Merry Christmas if we didn't have to worry about my dad getting to his Chemo Treatments. Thank You for your time, a concerned daughter.

I sit here on my 30th birthday, wondering what to say on how a car can benefit my life. Where to begin? My name is Kathleen, and I work at ##### ##### as a waitress in Kansas City, MO. I have three beautiful sons -- Michael, 8, Jeffrey, 4, and Trison, 19 mos. On April 5th 2004, I gave birth to my youngest son, Trison. Within a few days, I was in the hospital on life support, and my children were in DFS custody. I was diagnosed with toxemia due to complications with pregnancy. I was in a coma for 16 days and in the hospital for over 30 days. Doctors say I am a modern day miracle. I had to learn how to walk with a walker and go through speech therapy. I believe God did for me what I wasn't able to do for myself. I was released and wasn't able to work due to my physical handicaps for a few months. I was evicted from my home and started abusing drugs and alcohol. I grew up in a very dysfunctional home. Drugs and alcohol were always a problem in my life. Today I'm an addict in recovery; I will have a year clean and sober on December 17th due to the grace of God and my support system. As I write this, I have to say my life is wonderful. I have found a new happiness and a new way to live. I have my health and a group of people in my life that have loved me until I learned to love myself. I've been in and out of abusive relationships for the past 7 years. Today I'm a survivor of domestic violence. I have broken the cycle. I've been in a recovery house for women for the last three months. I'm now going into another transitional living program called Hillcrest Ministries. I'm rebuilding my life a day at a time. I'm working with the courts on reunification with my children. One of the courts requirements for getting my children back is having reliable transportation. A car would help me get to the appointments necessary to continue my recovery with both drugs and alcohol and domestic violence support groups. I will also be able to continue working at Nichols' Lunch where I have found great encouragement, support, and love with the women I work with and a boss, who has given me a chance and an opportunity to slowly transition back into the work force. I will be moving from the city to an area where the bus lines aren't as convenient. I will need dependable transportation to maintain employment, keep appointments, and care for my children. It would be a tremendously wonderful opportunity to receive this gift. I think it's great of you to help the people in need, and I want to thank you for this chance and either way I know that God will provide everything I need. God Bless and Merry Christmas!

I am a single mother of five. Two of my children's fathers are deceased. I am trying to be both mother and father to my children because I want so much for them to have a better life than they have had so far, and better than I have had. I moved to Texas from Kansas City, where I was homeless, to try to start my life over. I found a good job in Texas, bought furniture and household goods, and felt I had accomplished something good for my family. Through no fault of my own, I lost my job and could not pay my rent, so lost my apartment. I had to let my furniture and household goods go because I had no where to keep them. We were homeless again. The company where I had worked investigated my termination and offered my job back to me, but it was too late. We no longer had a home. A friend who lives in this area sent me money to rent a car to get back here, where my cousin lives. I stayed temporarily with my cousin, I had no other place to go. Lee's Summit Housing Authority gave me a voucher for housing, and we found our present apartment. The only things we owned were what I could bring in the car. I felt that all I had worked so hard for and accomplished was gone. I was referred to Lee's Summit Social Services. I was given furniture, clothing and household goods to start over, but best of all, I was given hope to be determined to get on my feet again. I found a job with the Lee's Summit School district doing cafeteria work. The job is part time and I work in different schools, wherever my help is needed. I am so grateful to have work, but I have to beg for rides to and from work if the school is too far away to walk. There is no public transportation in Lee's Summit. I am struggling to support five children, so recently found a second job, but again, my problem is transportation. I feel so good to be able to work, and pray I won't lose everything again. Please help me if you can.

Sincerely, Keyle Note from, Lee's Summit Social Services Emergency Services Coordinator. Terry, I want to remind you that Keyle's monthly income is $239.00 SSI for son Randy, and her job brought in $420.00 last month working for the Lee's Summit School District cafeteria. She is a hard worker, determined to eventually support her family on her own, and sometimes has to walk long distances to work, due to lack of transportation. Please consider her for your Cars 4 Christmas. Thank you so much. Linda S

My cousin Randy's wife Smokey 24 years old mother of two children Sammy Jo age 9 and Skyla age 1 was killed in a car crash this October. Randy is now trying to provide for his two girls and work a full time job. Randy is in desperate need of a reliable vehicle not only to try to get to work but to take his youngest daughter Skyla for her many visits that she must go to at Children's Mercy Hospital as she has tumors on the brain and is not expected to live to her 2nd birthday. Randy is working in factory in Lenexa Kansas. This is a very hard Christmas for this family. Smokey was a stay at mother so that Skyla could have a nurse come in and do therapy with her. Smokey was killed in the only vehicle that the couple owned with only liability insurance so there is no money to buy another vehicle. Randy must now depend on the transportation to work and to get Skyla's needs taken care on others. While our family would love nothing other than to be able purchase one for them ourselves, we are all working family's that just can't afford to do it ourselves. Thanks for taking the time to consider Randy and his girls for this gift that is must needed. Sincerely, Tina ,Beverly and Carol - Randy's cousins. P.S. The telephone number we have provided for Randy my not still be connected by the time you receive this. If not, please contact Tina

I am a single mother with two children. One of whom was born 16 wks early. I work a full-time 40 hr job Monday thru Friday and am also going to school at Penn Valley to better myself, so that I can afford to do the things for my children that I think that they deserve. I have not had a car in over a year and rely on my mother to get me back and forth where I need to go. I have to get my 1 year old daughter to daycare and also try to get back and forth to the Children's Mercy Hospital to see my son who is in the intensive care nursery. I only get to visit my son once maybe twice a week because I have to work around my mother's schedule. I would love to be able to visit everyday and also spend more time there but it's just impossible without my own transportation. I am desperately in need and would appreciate the help of cars for Christmas and their donors. Can you help me?

Christy needs a car so she can support herself and her youngest daughter Jillian with out having to relay on anyone else. As I sit down to write this, there is ice and snowing falling outside and I can't help but remember the ice storm of three years ago. At that time Christy had moved in with her mother and step-father in Blue Springs to get herself and her kids away from a bad marriage and situation. In most cases that would have been fine and life would have gone on its normal route but that was before the fire. You see, the fire three years ago in Blue Springs where the two young children died was my family. My sister and her husband lost everything and Christy lost Tony and Ariel, the two oldest of her three children. In the time since the fire, Christy has managed to do ok but she has had a hard time holding on to a job because she does not have reliable transportation. Every time she gets a good job, something goes wrong with the car and she doesn't have the money to get the problem fixed, so there is no way for her to get Jillian to school and herself to work. If there is no way to get to work there is no money to be made to pay for the repairs on the car. I believe if she had a good car she would be able to support herself and her daughter which would reduce the amount of pressure she is under to make sure her and Jillian are going to be ok in the long term. She doesn't need anything fancy just something that can get her to and from school and work. Thank you, Aunt Mary

single mother of one boy, little boy is 6 years old and his father was killed in a motor cycle accident this past sept. Sara has had cancer, and no transportation for her or her childs appointments.appointments for doctors and Kayden has therapist appointments to deal with the loss of his father, and no reliable way, Sara needs transportation for her also, she has been in remission for alot of years .she also needs counseling .she lives with family....this would be very wonderful, and very much needed, thank you very much for this opportunity. her father Steve #####.

I do not know all of the contact information for this family, but please read the following (heart breaking) news story (from kmbc.com 12/14/2005): KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Two young brothers are coping with the untimely death of their mother, as well as the need for one of them to get a new kidney. But in the face of tragedy, those boys rekindle hope when all seems lost. "She had me close her door -- and she never had me close her door -- and said, 'I love you and good night.' She knew she might not wake up the next day," Mack ###### told KMBC's Lara Moritz. Several hours later after shutting that bedroom door, the mother of 16-year-old and 15-year-old Ronald died from a massive stroke. "It was the worst feeling ever, but I had to stay strong for my brother. All I kept thinking, 'You've got a brother to look after now, you're all he has left,'" Mack said. Ford poured out his grief in the form of a poem. "Now the one I love is gone/ She's the one who kept me strong/ Now my heart, my love, is shining up above," Ford wrote. "I love you mom with all my heart/ My love for you will never part." The boys will live with their aunt, uncle and three cousins in a two-bedroom house. The tight living quarters doesn't bother them -- they said their mother taught them what really matters in life. "She always taught us that money isn't everything; that you always ought to have your family -- how important it is to have your family together," Mack said. "I explained to the guys it's going to be OK, this is your home now. Anything you need is yours -- you will want for nothing," said Shauna ##### , the boys' aunt. Moritz reported that in addition to dealing with the loss of their mother, one needs a new kidney. But the boys said they're not scared by the life-or-death situation because their mother taught them how to deal with hardship. "I think about all the pain and stuff she went through down here and know right now she's in a better place with God," They said. The boys will lay their mother to rest a few days before Christmas. They said they don't want to be pitied, because their mother taught them life goes on for those you love. "It will be a good Christmas because she's in a better place, she'll still be with us," Mack said. Moritz reported that the family has more trouble because the their car broke down last week and their uncle just underwent surgery and recently lost his job. If you would like to help the family, contact Shauna ### #########

This is one of the three families that I helped from Biloxi, MS. When hurricane Katrina destroyed the entire city of Biloxi and other gulf coast area, they too have lost everything they owned. Now, they relocated here with nothing. With this situation, I am hoping to give them another smile at least not a Huge gift, but it means a lot to them for sure. They were on the local news several times with me to call for the public assistance. You are welcome to contact me for more information. Sincerely, Father Joseph Dang

This is a family who recently enrolled their two daughters in the middle school where I am a counselor. They live in a motel and they are having trouble finding work without a vehicle to use. They do not have the resources for Christmas and the teachers have donated some money to help them with Christmas but they really could use a car to help get them work so they can eventually leave the motel. A motel is no place for two young girls who always have a smile on their face and they seem to have settled into our middle school well. They just need help getting on their feet.

My name is Terri ***** I am from Assembly of God and the director of the Benevolence Team, and I would like to submit Mark and Melissa ******* name for the Cars 4 Christmas. Mark is 40 years old, the father of five children and on the lung transplant list at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis due to sever emphazema in both lungs. Mark is currently under medical care in Olathe Kansas which is thirty miles from Paola Kansas. Mark needs therapy twice a week in Olathe. He is only able to attend his therapy sessions if he can find a ride to therapy. The car they currently have hardly makes to the grocery store just a few blocks away. Melissa works driving a school bus, however with the medical needs and the daily expenses and Mark on disability there is no way to save for a new car. Besides getting to needed therapy other concerns are for when it is time for the lung transplant, transportation to and from St. Louis. Being able to see his five children, Blaine 17, Courtney 14, Shane 13 and Cheyanne 10, Crystal 18 (lives in Anderson MO) while he is in St. Louis recovering for up to six months. Thank you for considering Mark and Melissa, God bless you Terri Benevolence Team

Hello!
My name is Tanya ****** and I could really use your help. I was referred to you by Jamie of Jay Wolfe Chrysler Plymouth Jeep. Jamie is one of many dealers who have been trying to help me find a car that I can afford for almost a year now but it's been absolutely impossible for me. When Jamie recently replied to an email I sent him, I was so incredibly surprised to learn that there was a organization out there who genuinely cares about people who are desperate and in need. I owe a tremendous thanks to Jamie for informing me of your organization and an HUGE thanks to you for being there for the community.

In some ways, I'm not sure how to begin my story because it's quite long and it certainly tends to be complicated. So I will do my best to explain this as short as possible and as simple as I can make it (which means 10 pages or less). I'm sure you receive a lot of requests from some very deserving people!

To introduce myself a bit further, I am 31 years old, single, have no children and I have been on disability for 8 years. I have several internal problems with my health that cannot be seen from the outside. So while I can walk and function physically to some degree, my multiple health problems limit my ability to function on a daily basis as I would need to in order to support myself financially. To give you a little more detail, I have suffered from a severe bladder disease called Interstitial Cystitis for the last 10 years which is my primary health problem. It is also considered an Auto Immune Disease because this condition also affects my entire body and organs. I have chronic and acute pain and fatigue, chronic kidney stones, a minor heart condition and migraine headaches to list a few. I have had multiple surgeries to remove several of my internal organs; uterus, ovaries, gall bladder, teeth....etc. My friends and family constantly joke that I will be completely hollow before I turn 40!   I have also undergone 10 years worth of numerous grueling treatments and procedures (a few of which were even experimental) with no improvement. Since there has been no improvement I will be having major surgery to remove my bladder at some point in the near future (I figure.......they may as well grab my appendix while they are in there!).

Up until December 2003, I owned my own car. The car worked perfectly for me!   Last year I loaded up my car for the long eight hour trip back "home" for Christmas which I try to do every year to visit my family and friends. My car broke down in Abeline Kansas on the way out to Denver and to make a LONG story short I had no other options, it had to be junked. There was a major transmission problem with it that would have cost me $2000 to repair on a $200 car! Hey it wasn't all bad!   I got $20 for it at the junk yard.

In order to travel to Denver, I have my finances figured out to a science. I make approximately $580 per month on disability.   This pans out to about $7,000 a year. It takes me a maximum of $50 to travel one way to/from Denver. So, I save $100 for the gas and/or snacks and I may bring a little extra cash along if I have it for extras or emergencies. Once I'm in Denver, everyone I stay with takes such wonderful care of me when I'm there. So as you can see back in December, I didn't have enough money to get my car fixed, towed or anything!!

I have also spent these last couple of months trying to clear up some mistakes that were on my credit report. It takes time to file disputes with the agencies and thankfully they've removed most of the mistakes. I am told that the corrections won't actually show until at least a year after the mistakes are investigated and the credit points slowly build back up again.

I've made numerous phone calls for nearly a year now, to dealers and private sellers, all over Kansas City, trying to inquire about buying a vehicle. Probably 85% of the dealers I contacted simply laughed at me when I told them what I have to work with financially. They SERIOUSLY laughed. I can't even begin to tell you how disheartening and humiliating this is. I tried several different approaches to how I contacted the dealers and what I said to them or what information I gave them about myself. Every one of them boasted about how they had THEE perfect vehicle for me. Not one of them does though, unfortunately. The private sellers have all told me that they'd love to sell their vehicle to me, of course, but I would need the money first. The reality is, I make so little on disability, there's absolutely no way I can afford to purchase a car and a loan is completely out of the question due to my financial situation.

Right now I am relying on a couple of friends to help me get to all of my doctors appointments at KU Med Center, North Kansas City Hospital, Liberty Hospital and other clinics along with filling my medications at the pharmacy or just simply getting to the store for things I need. But, in approximately six months, I will be finally moving into my own apartment through the public housing program. This is the only program I qualify for to live on my own. I cannot live with my best friend forever and although our relationship is great, I need my own place so she can move on in her life. Once I get my own "home" I will be even more severely limited financially. I have only been staying with my best friend till I get my own place. Then what am I going to do if I need a vehicle?? So I've been working on doing what I can now to prepare for getting my own place and somehow get myself a reliable vehicle.

I come to the end of my story finally and while there is actually even more details, they aren't as important for now. You have some of the main information along with some history to it all. I've been trying to get a vehicle that is an automatic because although I know how to drive a manual transmission, I tend to have problems due to my health condition. I've definitely hunted for a vehicle with working air conditioning because now that I live in this crazy heat and humidity during the summers, it severely affects my health (and NO I'm not moving back to Denver, I love it here).

So that's my story and I'm stickin to it!   I apologize for my story being so long, but I felt it was incredibly important for you to know a lot of the details that makes my situation so difficult and complicated and now you have an idea of why I am in need of some assistance in getting a reliable vehicle. Thank you so much for your time.
Sincerely,
Tanya

I have a very special need for one of the cars that you all are giving away. Actually I'm not asking alone, we are a family of well... about 900 people. I am a nurse a large local community mental health center. I work with a team of people that work with young people age 18-25, who have been diagnosed with a severe and persistent mental illness. Can you imagine being at that age, where you are not only becoming an adult with all the challenges that young adults face, but also the overwhelming challenges of a chronic mental illness? Probably not, and that's ok, that is what we do. . WE love our jobs and the young people that we serve. But man it is so hard , resources are scarce! We have one car for our large family, and one Van. Our young adults have the same dreams and visions as other young adults, but with very little help to help them achieve these dreams. One very important dream is to learn how to drive, so that they can get a job, and be as independent (as possible). We are willing to teach them to drive. We volunteer our time to help them get that precious drivers permit, and our time (and nerves of steal) to take them on the road to actually drive, But that one car is not available for us very often. We as a team that work with these young adults also like to take them out into the world and expose them to a world outside of poverty and hopelessness, in hope that we have created options, that would create life choices for this very indigent population. I will tell you that these are very hard working young people, they work hard at understanding their illness. They work hard at helping each other, whether it be to help them through a crisis, a suicidal thought or to help each other realize their own self-worth. I as you can tell could go on and on. I would like to , but I don't think I can say enough good things about this population nor put into words the mind-boggling challenges these young people face on a daily basis. I am speaking for the awesome team of people that I am so fortunate to work with, and those young adults that we are advocating for. We could really use one of those cars!!! It would be ours, we wouldn't have to disappoint the ones that are waiting literally weeks at a time to put that hard earned permit to purpose. Driving is something that so many of us take for granted, these kids do not. Please consider us for one of your cars, we would be forever sooooooo grateful. Self-worth, self-esteem and a chance to have some normalcy in their lives is the cause. The 900 people that I mentioned at the first of this letter is the total of people coming for services at our center. But the young adult team is around 95., just a family of 95! Please don't think that I am greedy, Just Advocating , we could also really use a van, to go together out in the world . Our mission is to help others help themselves.
Thank-you for your consideration,
Debra Ishmael RN and the
Young Adult Team

Hello, I would like to introduce myself and beg you to finish reading this
letter before making a decision to throw it away, which of course I sure
hope you don't decide to do! My name is Heather , I am a senior at
Wm. Chrisman High School, and I just had a wonderful baby boy on October
16th. I am not sure that what I am about to ask you to do can ever happen,
but I feel that it cannot hurt to ask and pray that you can help my mother.

You see, my mother is 42 years old, is on disability, and has suddenly
become a single mom with 4 teenagers and now a grandson. My father left
her and us kids one week after finding out that I was pregnant. He wanted
my mother to force me to have an abortion or kick me out of the house and
when she refused, he moved out. I of course knew that he was upset and had
moved out but I did not know what decision he asked my mother to make until
I recently overheard my mother talking to her Great-Aunt in Tennessee and
she was telling her the whole story.

My mother has always been a super mother. She always worked, had three Girl
Scout troops, did Cub Scouts with my brother, was always on the PTA Board at
our schools, and still made the time to play with and be there for us
whenever us kids or my dad needed her and help anyone who needed help for
any reason. I know it wasn't always easy because she tried so hard to keep
us together as a family even when my father was drinking very bad and things
were not always good with him around. My mother made a decision to show her
love to me and accept the fact that I made a mistake by getting pregnant but
told everyone that she refused to have anyone call the baby a mistake and
that she believed the baby would be a blessing to the family. She has
worked very hard since he moved out to get the house fixed up as nice as
possible by painting rooms that have needed it for years but dad would not
help paint them when he was still living here. She said she wanted the
house to be nice for us and for when the baby got here. My uncle has helped
us by buying supplies to convert a storage room in the basement to another
bedroom for my sister so that I could have the larger room upstairs for me
and the baby, and so many more things that mom has done for our family. I
cannot ever begin to repay her for her love and support that she has shown
for me and the way that she has handled suddenly being a single mom and
helping us kid to adjust to not having dad around and the many changes that
have had to happen since her moved. The father of my baby was abusive to me
and I know that it would have been easier on her to kick me out but she
wouldn't do that. I know that there are a lot of mothers out there that
would not have done what she did for me. I know she was disappointed in me
but she still loves me very much and stands by me. She has helped me since
the baby was born by showing me how to be a good mom and I am very glad that
I have her to look up to as a good example.

            I am asking for some serious help here and I am praying that
someone will help her. You see, as I said, my mother is 42 years old and is
on social security disability. She had a serious heart attack in 2000 and
has degenerative disks disease and bulging disks in her back. There are
some days that she has to use a walker to move around the house and when
things are real bad, she has to use a wheelchair if she has to walk very
far. Things are financially very tight around here right now and I recently
found out that she is struggling to make the house payments before they take
the house away. She never lets us know how tight things are but when I find
out, I wish I could help her more than I can right now. I will be getting a
part-time job after the doctor releases me but I can't do much more than
part-time and try to keep my grades up for school and take care of the baby.

            I know that I have seen on T.V. where they will give cars away
to people that really need the help but I wasn't sure how to make that
happen so I thought that I would just write and send you an e-mail with her
story and why I pray that you can help her.   Mom has been
trying to figure out how to get a mini-van since the baby was born so that
we will have room for all five of us and a car seat for the baby but I know
that her credit is not good and it is almost impossible for her to get extra
money right now. I am asking if you could help my mother by giving her a
mini-van. Like I said, I know I have seen people get cars from dealerships
but I was not sure how to do it.

            I hope this letter makes you see how wonderful and special my
mom is. She gave up an 18-year marriage to show her unconditional love for
me and has always put herself last since I can remember. She doesn't ask
for much for her self and I know this would make her so happy to have a van
that she knows is safe and has room for all of us to ride and she doesn't
have to worry about how she is going to pay for it. She has so much to
worry about and it upsets me so much when I find her crying because she
really thinks that she can't make it and give us what she thinks we really
need. Since the baby has been born, we have found her crying more and more
and it about breaks my heart when she tells people that she really doesn't
know what to do to get reliable transportation and she feels like a failure
for not being able to get the credit she needs. Our father is absolutely no
help at all as he seems to have gone on with his life and really doesn't
care what is happening around here, in fact, since he moved out, he has only
taken us kids out 3 times.

            We have a very special mother and I am praying that God will
help me to find the right person to help us. I have two sisters that are 13
and 15 and a brother that is 15 and we have talked about doing this so I
told them that I would write since I am the oldest and see what you said. I
am not asking for a brand new mini-van but even a good, nice used one would
work as long as she wouldn't have to worry about getting it repaired all the
time.

She doesn't know that I am writing anyone to ask for this so if you decide
that you can help, please let me know. I would love to be able to tell her
the good news as soon as possible! We were supposed to go see my
grandmother this weekend however, the car was throwing anti-freeze all over
so we couldn't even do that. Now that it is getting cold, we are not able
to take the baby out in the car at all without heat. I heard her this
weekend telling a neighbor that she might have to go to one of those places
that give anyone credit but then the neighbor told her that they charge
really high interest and the cars that they sell are not very good or safe.
The real problem is, I know that right now she is struggling to make the
house payment and keep the utilities paid so I do not know how she could
afford another payment right now. I would really like to be able to find
someone to help her as soon as possible so that we can safely take the baby
places and be able to go to the grocery store without having to wait to
borrow a car from a friend.

Please think about this before making a decision. We really think she
deserves a break in life right now and need someone to help us give her that
break! We pray that you can be that special someone that can help!

Thank you for reading this letter and maybe considering helping,

Heather, James , Christine, and Rebecca

Dear Cars 4 Christmas,

I have been in contact with Debra over the last month or so looking for 
assistance for Christmas in the way of gifts for her children.  I had 
spoken to Terry Franz about Debra and had told Debra to submit a letter 
to Cars 4 Christmas.  She said that she had submitted a letter, but I'm 
not sure how detailed she was about her situation so I thought I would 
submit a letter on her behalf.

Debra is a single mom with three boys ages 17, 16 and 14.  Recently 
Debra and the boys were evicted from their home.  They have bounced around 
from friends to family and, due to the fact that they are not settled 
anywhere, the boys have not been able to go to school.

Debra could use some transportation not only to be able to give her the 
ability to find employment and get to a job on a day-to-day basis, but 
to also have the ability to get her boys to various activities.  Debra 
has never owned a car of her own.  I believe that, with some 
assistance, Debra can get back on her feet and be able to do the right things for 
her family.

I hope you will find Debra Harrison to be a worthy candidate for Cars 4 
Christmas.

Dear Terry, I have been unable to submit an application on the web site so I am trying to reach the Car Santa through you. I would like to nominate my son David ******* for a Car 4 Christmas. David is a single father raising three children, Angelique (8 ), David Jr. (5), and Anthony (3). He has been without basic transportation for over 18 months (ever since the cost to repair the motor in his car cost more than he originally paid for the car). My son works hard every day installing siding (for $13.00 per hour) to provide the basics for his family. He does not receive any state aid to help pay for rent, utilities, food, daycare and has no medical insurance for the children. A car would not just be a gift for him, but for his children also.

David's average day starts at 6:00 a.m. He must wake and dress his children so they are all ready when I arrive at 6:30 a.m. to give him a ride to work. I have to take him early so I can return to his house by 7:30 so I can make breakfast for the children, get the two oldest to the school bus stop by 8:05, and drop the youngest off at the daycare on my way to work. Not a minute to waste in the morning!! After work, I wait at the bus stop for Angel and David Jr. pick Anthony up at the daycare and then off to pick up my son at whatever house I dropped him off to work on that morning. It doesn't matter what time he may have finished, I will not be there to pick him up before 5:00. Sometimes he can keep busy until I get there and sometimes he may have been finished and waiting for an hour or two. He usually installs siding on new homes in newly developing additions so trying to take the bus home is not an option. But, he never complains, he is grateful to have a ride to and from the job site so he can work.

David never seems to be able to put money away for a down payment for a dependable car. It seems every time he has a few dollars saved something else comes up. Angel needed glasses, David Jr. has ADHD and his medication is quite costly, a good chunk of his check goes to daycare for Anthony, the gas bill was higher than he thought it would be, it just goes on and on. Oh yeah, and now it is time for Santa.

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