Ashley carried her sick son to the doctor - on her back.

A vivid reminder of the difference a car makes for a family in DFW

Ashley is the 49th client to receive a vehicle + year of maintenance and support from OnRamp DFW.

Ashley might have been one of our first clients who showed up to the tax office on giveaway day, confident she was going to receive a car.

Don’t get me wrong, once we have made the promise of a vehicle to a client, we’ve never reneged on that promise. But let’s be honest, doesn’t a free car sound a little too good to be true? Especially if you had been let down or misled before?

Knowing that a client might be thinking this, and also knowing that we actually ARE going to give them a car makes the giveaways that much more fun. Sometimes a client’s family member or friend comes along with a backup car just in case - one time it was their Uber driver who told our client to beware because ‘this sounds like a scam’ and asked if he should stick around just in case.

But once we start walking out to the vehicle and place the keys in a client’s hand, the reality that this is actually happening sets in.

However, Ashley came to the giveaway confident she was going to be leaving with a vehicle, and that feels like momentum to me. You see, Ashley is the third client we’ve partnered with Interfaith Family Services to support. The most recent was Heather - Client #47, who was Ashley’s next-door neighbor at Interfaith. She had seen Heather go through the OnRamp process and receive a vehicle for her family. Ashley talked about how hers and Heather’s stories intersected and how they were part of each other’s support system through some of their darkest days.

Ashley courageously shared one of her own darkest days with us that morning. A single mom with three children, she had already endured a harrowing time of unemployment and homelessness before coming to Interfaith. It was when she was there and working hard to get back on her feet that her own personal moment of crisis came. Her normal schedule of getting to work and kids to school involved coordinating between friends with vehicles, rideshares, and public transportation, but one day her son became so sick that she needed to take him immediately to the doctor. None of her normal transportation sources were available, so Ashley picked him up and carried him on her back. As she was carrying him, she was suddenly overwhelmed by her helplessness and cried out to God - ‘Help me!’

Though a solution didn’t arrive right away, Ashley said she began to notice how God was providing for her needs, physical and emotional. Her relationship with Heather was an example of a supportive friendship she attributed to God - and Heather eventually led her to OnRamp DFW.

What a joy to get to be a part of God’s tangible answer to her prayer and provide her with a minivan that will help her take her family everywhere they need to go!

As we’re days away from helping our 50th client, a huge milestone for OnRamp DFW, we’re aware of how many more people in DFW are experiencing transport poverty and need a hand up. While this can be overwhelming, knowing that we’ve made a difference with several organizations in DFW like Interfaith, who view OnRamp as a valuable partner and vehicle of hope for their families, shows us how far God has brought us and how we can trust Him with the big picture, just like Ashley.

The OnRamp DFW giveaway crew.

Story used with the client’s permission.