Monique Brito, middle, and her kids, Evangelina Ayala, 13, left, and Elias Brito, 10, of their new 2016 Hyundai Elantra GT on Oct. 12, 2023, in San Jose, Calif. The San Jose non-profit Upkeep for Mothers changed Brito’s damaged automobile with the Hyundai Elantra earlier this 12 months. (Dai Sugano/Bay Space Information Group)
For six months Monique Brito solely received to see her youngsters on the weekends.
“I used to be incomplete,” she mentioned, recalling these painful months, when her automobile broke down and she or he wanted to ship her youngsters to stay with their grandfather so they may get to high school and she or he might take a bus to work.
She was caught — actually — final 12 months when the auto restore outlets saved telling her it was going to price greater than $8,000 to exchange the engine of her Hyundai. “I took it to some locations, and so they have been simply telling me outrageous numbers that I couldn’t afford,” she mentioned.
With out a functioning automobile, the 32-year-old single mother might now not make it from her residence in Morgan Hill to drop off her son Elias, 10, and her daughter Evangelina, 13, at their colleges in East San Jose, after which get again to South San Jose in time for her job in a dental workplace. So she requested her dad if his grandchildren might stay with him on the weekdays, a lot nearer to their colleges.
It was the correct factor for the youngsters, however “it was powerful,” Brito remembers. “It made me really feel like every part that I labored so exhausting for was for nothing.”
She began saving up for a brand new automobile, however then a pal recommended she attain out to Upkeep for Mothers — a San Jose-based nonprofit that helps single mothers with automobile repairs.
She utilized, and after the nonprofit decided Brito’s automobile was not well worth the costly restore, she obtained the pink slip to a gently used 2016 Hyundai Elantra GT, courtesy of the native nonprofit.
It wasn’t only a automobile. It was a present that reunited her little household.
The nonprofit was created and initially funded in 2019 by Ashot Iskandarian, founding father of ShopMonkey, a tech firm that gives software program for auto mechanic outlets, and his spouse Annie Iskandarian. In simply over 4 years, the group has helped 318 mothers, paying for over 330 repairs, and gifting 44 used and donated automobiles.
Upkeep for Mothers accepts functions from native single mothers in Santa Clara County via its web site, then invitations those that meet the factors, like Brito, for interviews at their workplaces in West San Jose.
“My imaginative and prescient was to have extra of a living-room setting,” says Kathryn Grazian, the director of Upkeep for Mothers, who sits on a cute sofa, sporting an aubergine T-shirt with the group’s emblem, and photographs of earlier beneficiaries smiling with their new automobiles on the partitions round her.
She’s accomplished over 200 interviews now. “We sit and we hear them,” Grazian mentioned. After which they decide if the mothers’ automobiles are repairable or not.
She has discovered that one of the vital useful providers they will present is entry to a trusted mechanic. “That’s one thing we are able to present for them that they will have and take with them.”
“I feel we’ve all been very inconvenienced in some unspecified time in the future in our life by our automobiles,” mentioned Grazian, whose personal automobile was within the store on the finish of October. “It’s very relatable… once I get out to my automobile and it doesn’t begin… I don’t know what’s going on,” she mentioned.
Upkeep for Mothers has established relationships with a number of dependable mechanics within the space and pays for the repairs. The group additionally registers the automobiles with the DMV, and gives mothers referrals to different wraparound providers and alternatives.
With donations to Want Guide, the group plans to assist one other 24 mothers like Brito get again on the street safely.
“I feel that’s the place that intimacy is absolutely very important,” Grazian mentioned, “to not solely restore their automobile, but additionally simply construct a relationship… so there’s a trusted house the place they will ask for assist. That’s actually exhausting for lots of mothers.”
Brito requested for assist, and was blown away by the response. “It’s been the most important assist that I’ve ever skilled in my life,” she mentioned. “It has actually put an ease on my life financially, bodily, and emotionally.”
Her daughter Evangelina agrees. “After I was at my grandpa’s… I used to be simply often in my room,” like a typical teenager, “now I’m nonetheless in my room… however I do know that I’m with my mother,” she mentioned with a smile.
Final 12 months they have been dwelling with their grandpa after they began the brand new college 12 months, however this 12 months Brito is again to doing day by day drop offs and pickups.
“I really feel full,” Brito mentioned.
THE WISH BOOK SERIES
Want Guide is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group operated by The Mercury Information. Since 1983, Want Guide has been producing collection of tales in the course of the vacation season that spotlight the needs of these in want and invite readers to assist fulfill them.
WISH
Donations will assist Upkeep for Mothers present a working automobile for twenty-four low-income single moms and their households in Santa Clara County. Purpose: $50,000
HOW TO GIVE
Donate at wishbook.mercurynews.com/donate or mail on this kind.
ONLINE EXTRA
Learn different Want Guide tales, view photographs and video at wishbook.mercurynews.com.
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