“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious." ― Obi-Wan Kenobi

Though aimed at Mos Eisley Spaceport, Obi-Wan might as well have been describing the current used car market in America (yes, I am a mega Star Wars fan… originals only, though). Easily half of the used car ads I have seen this month on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist are either scams or, at a minimum, grossly dishonest. Increasing prices and dwindling supply have drawn countless crooks to the market to make an easy buck off of unsuspecting and uninformed buyers. DO NOT BECOME ANOTHER VICTIM. OnRamp is here to educate and prepare you to find and buy a reliable vehicle from an honest seller.

Our 91st OnRamp client, Miranda Locke’s infectious smile made yesterday’s donation a true delight! This single mom of 4 kids under eight years old (when does she ever sleep!!) has been through incredible hardships in the last few years, which have left her and her kids without any vehicle or any money to purchase a vehicle. She needs to travel almost 400 miles per week for work, church, her kids’ schools and daycare, medical appointments, and counseling.

Looking for an illustration of “hard work”? You will find none better than OnRamp’s most recent client, LaTisha. This single mom of four young children, eleven and younger, works ⅔ time at Walmart to pay the bills while taking a full load of classes at Sam Houston State, a 45-mile journey each way. She must balance getting the kids to school and doctors appointments, working evenings, getting to Huntsville three days a week for classes, and somehow finishing all her homework whenever her kids finally fall asleep. I cannot fathom the amount of effort this women expends to provide for her family!

Before you dismiss this email because you’re already a safe driver, please take two minutes to watch and ensure that you’re taking the steps needed to protect you, your passengers, and your vehicle. And please consider sharing this crucial information with other drivers in your life, especially newer drivers who may not know these steps.

Join us in celebrating OnRamp client #89. We actually shared this family’s story with you a couple of months ago when they were parked on our waiting list. The mom, dad, and three kids rely on a single vehicle: a 20 year old SUV with a failing transmission, no AC or heater, and only 1 working window. And when it rains, the car leaks. When they initially applied, they estimated their weekly travel to be 200 miles. But when we asked them to actually track it, it turned out to be 500 miles per week!

Without a doubt, this was one of our sweetest donations ever. Sue serves as a cook at The Langford and works with the Memory Care Residents who suffer from Alzheimers or Dementia. My own grandfather, a kind and intelligent man, died of Alzheimers years ago, and seeing the toll this disease took on his mind and body gave me a deep appreciation for people like Sue who go out of their way to share Jesus’ compassion and joy with these residents. This is a calling that takes incredible grace.

We are so excited to share a MAJOR resource OnRamp has been working on for the last four months: ten Instructional Videos on our brand new YouTube channel covering all aspects of car purchase and ownership! These videos cover topics including how to buy a used car and not get scammed, safe driving, auto insurance essentials, what to do in an accident, how to care for your tires or change a flat tire, basic auto maintenance, and many more.

By every measure, 2021 was OnRamp’s biggest year ever. Here’s the final tallies…

God allowed OnRamp to squeeze in one more vehicle donation before Christmas, a Camry to a hard-working single mom of two young kids. She attends Blinn where she’s working hard towards a degree in health care so she can provide a better life for her children. She also works as many hours as possible at a local grocery store. But all of these endeavors require reliable transportation. When her previous vehicle died a few months ago, all of her progress was thrown into jeopardy.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a startup charity in possession of many clients in need, must be in want of outstanding volunteers.

Points to whomever identifies the source of that line (hint: I never would have known it without my wife’s help!) It is, indeed, true that the greatest need in launching a new charity is not money; it’s volunteers.

WHAT. A. STORY! Client #86 received her new minivan today in record time. Project Unity nominated this dedicated single mom of five kids under six years old (I can’t fathom the exhaustion she must feel at the end of the day!) I can not overstate what a worthy client she is! To quote her sponsor, “Her greatest strength is HOPE!”

Weeks of prayer and hard work culminated in our biggest donation ever yesterday (Dec 7) as we gifted a pair of vans to two amazing charities in Brenham, Texas. I struggle to find words that capture the joy I felt crowding in the tiny, yet beautiful confines of the Washington county tax office to gift a massive 15-passenger van to Adult and Teen Challenge and a mint Honda Odyssey to Our Daughters’ House. Add them up, and we were a 36’ long caravan of vans from BCS to Brenham - our biggest donation ever by value (vans are pricey!), tonnage (and heavy!), and impact (they will each serve dozens if not hundreds of clients in the coming years!) Let me share a bit about each of these amazing organizations to help you see why OnRamp invested so much time and treasure to partner with them.

Grab the tissues and get ready to hear Melissa’s story. We were blessed to donate a reliable Toyota to her in May and it has utterly transformed her life. Here’s her story, shared with her permission, provided by Tara Lazaro. Melissa recalls the intense pain she felt in her legs as she walked five to six hours a day to get to work, rain or shine. “I'm shaking just remembering it,”

In our country, those working hard to escape poverty face numerous financial traps most of us can’t fathom. Imagine for a moment that you accidentally parked somewhere you shouldn’t and your car is towed. What a massive inconvenience!

Rather than focus on the vehicles OnRamp needs, let me tell you about one of the families on our waiting list hoping to receive a vehicle this month. This family, a husband and wife with 3 school age-children, has just one vehicle: a 20 year old SUV with a failing transmission, no AC or heater, and only 1 working window. Oh, and when it rains, the car leaks.

This was a rollercoaster week for OnRamp. First, the high: hearing from a recent client, a single mom, about the IMPACT our gift of a reliable car was having our her kids.

We chose Isaiah 61 for this year’s OnRamp Christmas ornament because it reminds us of Jesus’ heart for the poor, the struggling, and the suffering. It reminds us that Jesus chose to identify with the lowly and rejected of society; not the rich and powerful. Our culture fixates upon those with fame, beauty, intelligence, strength. Jesus fixed His eyes on the weak, the sick, the dependent, those in need - the polar opposite of Instagram-influencer-society.

Through an amazing chain of unlikely events, OnRamp was chosen three years ago as a Capstone Research Project by the A&M Bush School. A class of graduate students spent a year studying transportation-related charities throughout the United States to identify best practices for our fledgling ministry. Among the many lessons learned, one particularly stood out to me: there are only about a dozen charities like OnRamp in the entire country, and only one besides us in all of Texas!

Today we’re celebrating client #82; not an individual, but a whole organization! This is the second time we’ve been able to bless an entire charity with a reliable vehicle designed to empower their ministry to people in need. The Nest (https://thenestbcs.org) is a local Christian nonprofit dedicated to helping the lost, hurting, and addicted find healing and learn to live again.