Changing Gears client pays loan, becomes first vehicle owner

When Changing Gears presented Arylnda Ray with the title to her 2003 Ford Focus a couple weeks ago, Ray says she was overcome with excitement.
 
“It was better than the walk on the red carpet because they were celebrating an ordinary person, and that was great,” Ray says. “It was so exuberating to see those people all lined up when I came around the bend, cheering.”
 
Ray is the first Changing Gears’ client to take ownernship of a vehicle, as she just finished making payments on her no-interest loan, which she says helped her to reach a milestone in life.
 
“Before I had access to transportation, I was on the bus for about 11 years, taking care of my doctors’ appointments—or my family member or a friend would take me to take care of my business,” Ray says. “When I’d go to the grocery store, I’d catch the bus and catch a cab back home, and if I forgot something, it was just forgotten.”
 
Changing Gears, a CityLink Center partner and nonprofit that assists low-income individuals to access affordable transportation, helped make it possible; and while Ray is thankful for public transportation, she says her life is less stressful now.
 
“I had a lot of medical things going on with me with my back and my knee and my hip, but being able to have the transportation—it’s so much better because I can just get in the car and go where I need to go without being stressed,” Ray says. “It makes life so much easier, and I help other people, too, because other people helped me.” 

Do Good:

•    Support Changing Gears by donating your used vehicle. 

•    Volunteer with Changing Gears.

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By Brittany York

Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a project manager for Charitable Words. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.