Breathing new life into a used car can also breathe new life into a car-less HomeFront client’s future.
That’s why HomeFront, which helps the homeless and the working poor, has launched its new “Drive Home” program.
Drive Home takes donated cars and reconditions them for use by HomeFront clients who need a reliable way to get to work, said Rohan Joseph, a volunteer who helped launch the program at the Lawrence Township non-profit organization.
“If you don’t have a car in New Jersey, it’s hard because buses are unreliable,” said Joseph, who graduated from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North in June.
“You are limited if you need to take a bus to get to work. A car is the difference between a $10 per hour job and a $16 per hour job,” Joseph said, because it expands a client’s options.
Drive Home is based on a similar program sponsored by the Princeton Alliance Church in Plainsboro Township, in which mechanics fix up donated cars for single mothers, Joseph said.
Joseph was part of the Princeton Alliance Church program, and he wanted to expand it, so he contacted HomeFront officials.
The cars in the HomeFront program are obtained through FaceBook posts and by word of mouth, he said. HomeFront has an arrangement with mechanics to fix up the car, and then HomeFront gives the car to one of its clients.
“You help moms earn more money and you help the children to do better,” Joseph said.
Having a car makes a difference in a single mother’s life, he said. It enables them to make medical appointments for their children, to attend school programs and to enroll the children in an after-school program without the stress of relying on a bus that may be late.
Many children are latch-key children, who go home after school to an empty and unsupervised house, he said. But if their mother had a car, they could go to the after-school program or play on a sports team after school because she would have a car and would be able to pick them up.
Owning a car also means it’s easier to go grocery shopping, Joseph said. The mother won’t have to carry a bag of groceries in one hand and hold onto the child’s hand with the other one while they wait for the bus – which may be late or may be full.
“It’s the domino effect. A car transforms lives. It changes their entire life. What a car does, is it allows the mom to get to the position that she needs to be in,” Joseph said. It provides accessibility and independence.
“We know they want to grow and become a better person, and a car expands that process,” Joseph said.
“It’s amazing to see the moms pick up on that. When people have the ability to change the situation they are in, they make an effort to do it,” he said.
For more information or to donate a car, contact Susan May at HomeFront at susanm@homefrontnj.org.
