Celebrating with the Estradas. Daniel had to stay inside his daughter’s air-conditioned SUV since triple-digit temperatures are a safety risk for those in his condition.
A reliable vehicle is certainly a necessity in our community, but is it a matter of life-and-death? Yes, actually, for the subset of our clients who need a vehicle to attend life-sustaining dialysis treatments multiple times per week. These men and women need a vehicle they can count on to start every time, without fail. They need a vehicle that can safely take them to transplant-grade hospitals and specialists in Houston and Temple. They need something large enough for a wheelchair or walker in many cases. And they need good air-conditioning in triple-digit weather like today to avoid overheating their already taxed bodies. A reliable vehicle saves lives when given to dialysis patients.
So this week OnRamp donated a beautiful Toyota Rav4 to our 104th clients, Daniel and Sylvia Estrada. Daniel has been a dialysis patient for the last ten years, requiring three treatments every week. Due to his condition, he requires a wheelchair and assistance getting around. His wife, Sylvia, the hero of this story, must balance her role as primary care-taker for her husband and her mother who now lives with them, along with her 30-hour-a-week job as a Senior Helper, earning the money needed to support her family.
When we donate a vehicle, we offer to pray over the client and his or her family, recognizing that we all need God’s strength, provision, and most of all His love to make it through life. As people of strong faith, Daniel and Sylvia were grateful to be lifted up. Note that prayer is never forced or coerced upon a client.
Thanks to Sylvia’s tireless efforts, the family stayed afloat until a few months ago when the transmission failed in their vehicle. A replacement was beyond their financial resources. Thankfully, the social worker at their clinic, Shelby, nominated this family to OnRamp and we gladly accepted them without reservation. We required zero action steps from them because they had already taken every step we could imagine to provide for themselves. The only challenge was that Daniel’s condition required an SUV, and they are HARD to find in this market. We prayed, we searched, and after a month of looking, God provided this Toyota in Colorado. We jumped on it! Thanks to Joe DeWolf and Rami Cerone for getting it here, Jeremy Smith at Christian Brothers for prepping it, and David De Sousa for helping me shepherd the Estrada’s through our process. Today, they are rejoicing that God, whom they deeply trust, has provided a reliable, air-conditioned ride to get them to the clinic, to work, and anywhere else they desire to go. This sweet family now has the independence and freedom they sorely missed.
As always, THANK YOU to our amazing donors who make this ministry possible! This SUV was not cheap - they never are. We couldn’t have done this without you. Please keep your gracious donations coming so we can buy and prepare vehicles for the dozen or so families currently on our waiting list (with more arriving every day!)
