December 1, 2005 at 6:40 a.m.
Car Care Ministry approaching two dozen vehicles distributed
Car Care Ministry approaching two dozen vehicles distributed
Mobile once again, she’ll be able to get to-and-from work, transport the kids to activities and figuratively, perhaps even literally, get her life back on-the-road to normalcy.
The car recipient was not photographed for her own protection. This car and another vehicle were donated to the ministry by the Merchelwitz Family and the Locke Family.
Representatives of the local network righting this family’s overturned ship agreed to be featured instead. (See photo-- people from Children’s Home Society of Minnesota--the Crisis Nursery; a job counselor; family advocate, county social workers, the car care ministry auto mechanic and the Almelund church pastor.)
The Immanuel Church Car Care Ministry is supported through church fundraisers and donations, as well as the intermittent sale of a vehicle to raise money for parts. It has a proven relationship with area social services programs, through which the car recipient families are selected.
You donate a vehicle to Immanuel Church and this group will make sure it lands in the hands of a needy family working to be self-sufficient.
The only downfall, if it could be called that, is that there are more people on the waiting list than the ministry has vehicles.
Marty Harding, a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church, works as a social services consultant-- sort of a facilitator and go-to person.
As an outsider she overlays a global view on the services network and most recently has been coordinating a faith community- quasi-governmental group called Communities Investing in Families. It’s a multi-county collaborative where Harding makes sure everybody knows what others are doing and where any program redundancies or gaps are.
Bringing the players together for this car delivery, she noted, is that rare opportunity when Crisis Nursery can talk with county case workers and they can meet Randy Parker, Parker Automotive, who donates the labor on the vehicles.
This car recipient, we’ll call her Ellen, first entered “the system” by way of the non-profit Minnesota Children’s Home Society-Crisis Nursery.
Ellen was concerned her family was heading towards problems. She and her spouse were beginning to develop a Family Support Plan with the Home Society when things escalated. There was an order for protection issued but conditions placed on it became loopholes. The threats and danger continued.
Ellen found help from friends who secretly sheltered her and the children.
One of those friends explained he saw what was going on in the household so he and his wife convinced Ellen to, “get out of there.”
“It was a real eye opener for me,” said Ellen’s acquaintance, who came along to witness the car title transfer at the church.
He added, “The whole experience...what these women go through...I can see why many women don’t come forward (for protection).”
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Immanuel Car Care Ministry accepts vehicles in good shape.
The ministry can cover basic maintenance needs and will also do cost-effective repairs before distributing a vehicle. Randy Parker, Parker Automotive in Almelund, will check out the vehicle.
The ministry grants full donation value for the vehicle, as it has a charitable status and also transfers the title through a dealers’ license, a new requirement by the state.
Harding said donated vehicles may periodically be sold to cash-flow the program, and at that point only the value of the sale price is deductible, otherwise ministry car donations are at full car value.
Interested in donating a vehicle to support a local family? Contact Harding at 257-9576 or the Immanuel Church office in Almelund, 583-2340.
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