Success Stories | Fix It Forward Ministry

By the time she was 60, Joyce was disabled and unable to work. To make matters worse, her car, a 20-year-old Buick, was unreliable although she'd spent $600 to try to keep it running."It was a pretty gray time," she said. Even surgeries on her feet and knees failed to enable her to work. "I was out of commission for quite some time."Then, through a friend at her church, Joyce learned of a new local nonprofit called Fix It Forward Ministry that fixes cars and even provides donated cars for those in need.

Because she was in the midst of applying for disability benefits, she was qualified for assistance through the volunteer program, which works in partnership with other nonprofits and social service providers to identify those in need. Joyce was willing to wait for a car, since she is able to walk in the warmer months. But once winter settles in, and sidewalks turn icy, her mobility becomes extremely limited.

After a few months, the phone rang—a 1996 Cadillac Seville was available, just in time for Christmas. The car came fully loaded, she said. "A lot of miles, but still in running order." "It was kind of a divine intervention. It was right before the snow. It was like the heavens opened up.

I’m Natnael Nibret. I came from Ethiopia, Eastern Africa. I’m married and a father of two wonderful boys. My families were very poor and I grew up under the support of Compassion International Child Sponsorship Program.

Through Compassion, God gave me a schooling opportunity and I able to succeed in life and positively influenced the lives of thousands. I used to be an executive director of a big charity organization in Ethiopia with about 170 full time employees under my supervision, providing support for more than 28,000 poor beneficiaries throughout the country. I love my ministry and gave my whole life for its success. Unfortunately, I was forced to leave my ministry, my family and my country and was persecuted to the United States on February 2017. My families are still back in Ethiopia and I’m pursuing political asylum in USA to bring them here.

Currently, I’m working for Cassey’s General Store as a cashier and studying Information technology Administration at NDSCS. The Higher Power Ministry blessed me with a wonderful HHR Chevy car.

Picture this, a single mom who is struggling to support her family... She goes out to her car and discovers her abusive ex has found her car and slashed all 4 of her tires. What does she do? She doesn't have the money for an expensive tow truck, let alone the cost of the tires. She has a serious problem that will have a severe impact on her life.

It seems he has won.

Fortunately, she talks to her case manager who places a referral to Fix It Forward Ministry to get her car repaired. They tow it in, replace her tires and get her back on the road, removing this headache from her life so she can focus on her family. This is a true story, this picture was taken today right before it was repaired.

We were contacted by Faith to repair a vehicle. We explained our waiting time and she told us that she couldn’t wait that long. We asked why and she told us that she had recently been contacted by the Police to inform her that her abuser was getting out of prison in two weeks.

She was actively working with the YWCA and Rape and Abuse Crisis Center and they had put together a plan to move her and her children across the country to an undisclosed location so they would be safe and he couldn’t find them. The problem was, her vehicle was broken and she had no other transportation options.

We towed her pick-up to the shop, but quickly realized that there was no way that we were going to be able to make this vehicle safe and reliable enough for her and her kids to go across the country with it. There were just too many things wrong. Not only that, but the pick-up didn’t actually fit her whole family safely.

So we made a new plan. We took a donated vehicle that was large enough to fit her whole family and was safe and reliable enough for a cross-country drive before he was released from prison.

Appreciate you and the work all of you do to change the lives of people in need of a hand up!

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST TODAY!

Success stories.

Tari J.

Natty M.

Anonymous

Faith D.