Our History
OnRamp’s first client - Marlo, alongside her Chevy Tahoe!
2015 - Blake Jennings begins to repair vehicles for financially struggling church members and staff. Some are repairable; some are not. Owners of unrepairable vehicles don’t have any capacity to buy a replacement.
August 2016 - Blake comes up with the concept for a vehicle donation charity in the Brazos Valley to help impoverished families in need of transportation.
January 2017 - OnRamp is incorporated as a Texas Non-profit.
May 2017 - OnRamp receives 501c3 status. Blake meets a single mom of 4 named Marlo and saw how badly she was scammed when purchasing a used car that was worthless.
Sept 2017 - OnRamp accepts Marlo as the first client.
Oct 2017 - Blake begins raising money to buy Marlo a car – ends up raising enough for 3 cars! He buys and donated our first vehicle to her – a Chevy Tahoe.
Founder, Blake Jennings, pictured at Bush School of Government with Dr. Catherine Cole and students.
May 2020 - OnRamp hires first employee, Stephanie Mason, as parttime Operations Manager.
Oct 2020 - Preparations begin to launch OnRampDFW.
Jan 2021 - Formal partnership with local Christian Brothers begins as GM, Jeremy Smith, joins our vehicle team.
Mar 2021 - OnRamp adopts Smartsheets as our information hub and begins building proprietary database that can be used by all future OnRamps.
July 2021 - OnRamp hires Founder, Blake Jennings, as fulltime President.
Jan 2022 - OnRampDFW gives away its first vehicle to a client.
Mar 2022 - OnRamp hires Cassidy Somervill as parttime Care Director.
Celebrating OnRamp’s 200th client!
Nov 2017 - Second vehicle donation and first to come through an independent Advocate.
Jan 2018 - Third vehicle donation and first to a person needing a vehicle to qualify for an organ transplant.
Aug 2018 - Ninth vehicle donation but first Tier2 Vehicle and introduction of OnRamp’s Two-Step option (give a temporary, low-cost “Tier2” vehicle to help applicant make progress to meet all program requirements, at which time it is replaced with a long-term, high-value “Tier1” vehicle and “Tier2” is returned to inventory).
Sept 2018 - OnRamp is chosen as a Bush School of Government and Public Service Capstone Project by Dr Catherine Cole’s Masters-level class.
Apr 2019 - Dr. Catherine Cole becomes the first non-family member of the Board.
OnRampDFW gifting a vehicle to one of their clients.
Apr 2022 - OnRamp gives a vehicle to its 100th client.
Dec 2022 - OnRamp moves from remote work into an office for the first time.
Jan 2023 - Stephanie Mason promoted to fulltime Ops Director.
Apr 2023 - Hosted our first formal fundraiser – Drive with OnRamp.
Jan 2024 - OnRamp hires Taylor Carlson as fulltime Care Director, with Cassidy serving as parttime Communications Director.
Mar 2024 - OnRamp Coastal Bend launches and donates a vehicle to their first client.
May 2024 - OnRamp gives a vehicle to its 200th client.