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Hope on Wheels helps get vehicles to those who deserve them
Hope on Wheels is a nonprofit that takes donated cars, refurbishes them, and then donates them to deserving people.
DALLAS - A Dallas man is driven by a mission to change lives. It's an effort that started 12 years ago.
Hope on Wheels is a nonprofit that takes donated cars, refurbishes them, and then donates them to deserving people.
FOX 4 was there when the program surprised a deserving family with a life-changing gift.
Quinton McCright has been around cars his entire life.
His father was a mechanic, and as fate would have it, he followed that same path.
He said it’s not something he wanted to do, but he kept being led back to it.
"I tried to do that before, unknowingly sabotaging myself, and it's like God pulls me right back and is like look man, I need you to do this," he said.
Now, he’s focused on paying it forward.
At a point when McCright was down on his luck, someone decided to help.
"One of my closest friends gave me a car and I was working on it, and I thought to myself I was going to sell it, but then I felt something tell me, you need to give this car away," he recalled.
And he did.
He gifted to a single mother of three who was beyond thankful.
When he was given another car in 2012, he decided to keep it for himself.
The moment he said that, he crashed the vehicle.
"Right then, I knew, this was about purpose. This is not about you. It’s about other people," he said.
And since that moment, McCright has invested his own money into restoring donated cars.
Hope on Wheels has given away close to 30 vehicles, leaving many of them thinking, how is this possible?
The latest recipient was Chris Watkins, who is a senior at Newman Smith High School.
He works full-time at AKS Motors and is the primary caretaker of his mother.
"His mom is terminally ill and I see him every day. The dude just comes in, puts his head down, and works," McCright said. "Whatever you ask him to do, he will go do it. He never complains…I learned that he dropped out of school so he could work and take care of his mom and I was like wow."
Watkins said his decision may cost him, but family comes first.
"It was more of a, what do I need now and what's still going to be there in the future? Of course, my education is important and getting my diploma is an important thing for me, but at the same time, my mom is important too," Watkins said.
"I’m so proud of him. He keeps going and he keeps me going. In fact, when I was in the hospital and they were trying to wake me up, he said, ‘Mama, I still need you.’ I woke up and he was the first face I saw," Watkins’ mother, Shiare Powell, said.
It has been tough on the family, making it to constant doctor's appointments and work.
That is, until now.
"My non-profit organization, that’s what we do. We fix cars and we give them away. This is your car, Chris," McCright said.
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Loving his new Chevy Cobalt, Watkins said this gift gives him hope.
"I know there’s still hope in the world, there’s still good in the world. Whether you want to believe it or not," he said.
"That is the purpose of my program. To push a person to the next level, to give them hope," McCright said.
Watkins said he hopes to inspire others not to give up.
In the future, Hope on Wheels wants to partner with women's shelters and local schools to identify people who can benefit from this program.