Heading into 2022, the odds seemed to be stacked against new Longmont resident Ronan Stewart. Pregnant with her first child and recently single after leaving “a bad situation,” Stewart faced yet another setback when her car broke down in January. Little did she know, someone in a similar situation would be the one to help her out.
Without a car, Stewart was forced to quit a job where she had been making good money, she said.. Soon she began experiencing feelings of anxiousness as she anticipated the arrival of her baby in April, concerned about how to best provide for her new baby.
“A car is the means for me to go to work and take my kid to their appointments and take myself to my appointments,” Stewart said. “So I was like, ‘I need a car before this baby comes.’”
Fortunately, Stewart had recently joined the LifeBridge Single Moms support group, which referred her to PEARL, a non profit organization dedicated to helping single parents achieve self sufficiency. Through PEARL, Stewart applied for a transportation program that offers single parents the opportunity to inherit a donated car.
According to PEARL’s Program Director Rochelle Borrego, PEARL receives random car donations throughout the year from members of the community who are familiar with the organization’s transportation services. The vehicle is taken to volunteers trained in car mechanics who will evaluate the vehicle to see if it’s suitable for someone to drive and make repairs if necessary. Occasionally, a car is unable to be repaired and is sold. The money from the sale goes toward purchasing another vehicle for the program, Borrego said.
Stewart, a prime candidate for the program, filled out an application in January and, by Feb. 7, she had received a 2000 Toyota Avalon from PEARL. Stewart was one of three PEARL clients who received a car donation from PEARL around the beginning of the month, according to a PEARL press release.
Little did Stewart know, but the donor of the car, Rob Bardenett, had also received it during a difficult time in his life. Bardenett and Stewart never interacted during the exchange of the vehicle – a result of PEARL’s efforts to keep donors’ identities anonymous.
Similarly to Stewart, Bardenett was devastated late last year when the transmission of his truck blew out and he wasn’t able to afford a new one. The pastor at Whitefields Community Church in Longmont heard about Bardenett’s hardship and arranged for Bardenett to receive the Toyota Avalon which had been donated to the church by a family.
Soon after the car came into his possession in November, however, Bardenett received a loan from a friend which allowed him to purchase a new transmission for his truck and seek out someone else to whom he could pass on the Toyota Avalon. For this, he drew upon his desire to help single mothers and called upon his church community to help him find one in need of a car.
“I think that being a single mother is the hardest job in the world – financially, emotionally, time-wise,” Bardenett said. “So I said to a person at church, ‘I always try to help out single moms and I have a car I’m trying to find a single mom to give to,’ and she just so happened to be associated with PEARL.”
Bardenett was connected with PEARL who gladly received the Toyota Avalon, fixed it up and passed it along to Stewart. Later, he received a photograph of Stewart next to the car from PEARL and he felt glad he was able to help her out, he said.
“The car is great and in good shape,” Stewart said. “(PEARL) made sure everything was working well on it, it’s got great gas mileage, it’s comfortable and the trunk is huge which is great because I needed something to put a stroller and groceries in.”
Above all, receiving the car donation from PEARL has caused a weight to be lifted off of her shoulders, Stewart said, and she looks forward to the ways having a car will benefit her family.
For more information about how to donate a vehicle to PEARL’s transportation program, cal; (303)-776-4963.
