Program puts needy Las Vegans back on the road

Life is sometimes a series of random stuff that does not seem connected until years later.

And then, wham, the weirdness happens and someone hands you the keys to a Toyota Corolla just because they can.

All because of Hurricane Katrina.

Because of a guy with an auto body shop in Tucson, Ariz.

Because a single mom in Virginia lost her job in an electronics factory, moved to Las Vegas, and promptly found herself and her autistic daughter homeless.

It all came together over lunch Thursday in a conference room at the hotel Elvis made famous.

Six local families were given free refurbished cars as part of a program run by the National Auto Body Council, an industry trade group that is in town for a convention.

You see? Weird.

The luncheon was held at the LVH, formerly the Las Vegas Hilton. It was with the Specialty Equipment Market Association show, SEMA, a massive convention featuring mostly aftermarket parts for cars and trucks.

"It's been a struggle," said LaToshia Savoy, 51.

She said the car, a white Toyota Corolla, will change her life.

She moved here three years ago from Virginia after losing her job there. She said she was working part-time at a grocery store here, but she wasn't making enough to pay the rent.

She and her autistic daughter, Teja, now 12, found themselves living in a shelter run by Family Promise of Las Vegas, a local nonprofit that focuses on helping families with children.

She has improved her life with their help, she said.

She got into transitional housing, then into permanent housing. She is getting her life together.

But without a car, it's tough.

She gets up at 2 a.m. every day, walks 1.8 miles to the bus stop near her house at Washington Avenue and Lamb Boulevard and rides the bus to work. She gets there just in time for the start of her 6 a.m. shift.

Now, with a car, everything will change. Especially because she got a full-time job on the same day she learned she was getting the car.

"It was like a double blessing for me," she said.

The Recycled Rides program started in 2007 after one of the group's board members, Michael Quinn, had an idea.

Quinn, who owned a body shop in Tucson, had traveled to New Orleans to help out after Katrina. The experience changed him.

He wanted to do something else to help people. Because he's in the auto body business, he knew that wrecked cars are sometimes too expensive to fix though there's not all that much wrong with them.

What if he could get the insurance companies to donate the cars, a bunch of parts suppliers to donate the parts, and a bunch of body-work employees to donate their time?

They would have perfectly good cars at almost no cost.

And there the program began. It has expanded from just a couple cars that first year to more than 150 this year in cities across the nation.

Six were given away here on Thursday.

"They earned this," said Terry Lindemann, executive director of Family Promise of Las Vegas, the group that chose the recipients. "They never wanted a handout."

Frank Jones, 54, certainly didn't.

He was a U.S. Marine from 1977-81. He got hurt while serving, but he was able to work when he got out of the service. Living in Dallas, he worked a series of jobs in the transportation industry.

He moved to Las Vegas 18 years ago and started a family. He has two kids, 16 and 12.

He was working until a few years ago, when his old injuries made it impossible to continue. He says he can't stand or do any manual labor.

Then his wife, Carolyn Morgan-Jones, got cancer a few years back. She is in remission now, but she still needs to go to the doctor often.

Jones said he wants retraining - maybe he will become a social worker, so he can give back - but until Thursday, he didn't have a car.

Now, he has got a nice GMC Terrain SUV.

Which means he won't need help making it anymore, once that retraining comes through.

"I can move over and let somebody else get the help," he said.

Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal .com or 702-383-0307.