Think of everything you did in your daily life during the last 30 days. Now, imagine doing those tasks and activities without a car.
“It really limits you,” says Matt Murphy, a board member at Wheels Transportation, Inc. The nonprofit organization takes donated vehicles and refurbishes them to give to individuals who are getting a second chance at life. In the 19 years they’ve been in operation, Wheels has given away over 1,300 cars to people getting back on their feet.
“There are three things we need: money, cars and volunteers to fix cars,” says Murphy, who has participated in this ministry for eight years. “What we need most right now are for people to donate their cars and for people to come work on the cars.”
Wheels moved to a new location in Cleves in 2018, after previously operating in Oakley. They have six car lifts in their garage, each fully outfitted with bought or donated tools. At any given time, about 50 cars sit in the lot outside, waiting to return to the road with new owners. “Whether we scrap a car or resuscitate it and give it to a family, it all helps the mission,” Murphy says. “Our rate of getting them back into service and into somebody’s hands as a solution is about 85%.”
Cars with problems too expensive or catastrophic to fix go to the scrapyard, but the nonprofit still benefits. “KOI Auto Parts on Crookshank Road is our main parts supplier. But we also get used parts from Miamitown Auto Parts and Recycling, as well as Allgeier Auto Parts, which operate scrap and salvage yards,” Murphy says. These companies take unfixable cars and give Wheels a credit to use. “Any parts we need are then debited against that credit.”
Murphy notes that Wheels accepts any car, but no motorcycles or RVs. There are also tax incentives for those who donate. “You can itemize it on your taxes and get whatever the fair market value is for the vehicle deducted,” Murphy says. “If you scrap it, it’s a different formula, but still a tax incentive.”
Those who receive a revived Wheels car can range from the formerly incarcerated, recovering addicts, or individuals who have escaped abusive situations, some with their kids in tow. All are seeking a way to get to where they need to go, whether that’s a new job or just the grocery store. Wheels partners with four area churches (Whitewater Crossing, the Vineyard’s Healing Center, Northstar’s Care Center, and Crossroads) and two local businesses (JBM Packaging and Nehemiah Manufacturing). These groups connect Wheels with worthy recipients who are making a comeback from bad circumstances.
“It’s always more than a job, and it’s always more than a car,” says Murphy. “These organizations tell us what a person has gone through and what led to their transportation crisis. They all have their own criteria, but they’re pretty similar. If someone is unable to get a car, our job is to supply the car as quickly as we can, once the person is ready for it. Sometimes it’s in a few days, and sometimes it takes a couple months.”
The cars are gifted without strings attached. Murphy says their goal for each vehicle is to give the recipient reliable service for a minimum of one year. Wheels offers the first two oil changes for free. “Some people take us up on that, and others we never see again,” Murphy says. “But we know it was a huge help in a time of crisis for them.”
Wheels wants to repair and roll out 150 cars per year, but that depends mainly on volunteer commitment. Their only paid staffer is executive director Dave “Tex” Cho. Cho rolls up his sleeves alongside Wheels founder Al Duebber, who started the organization in 2002. They also have a dedicated group of about two dozen regular volunteers, including board members, certified mechanics and administrative helpers. They need to grow that pool of volunteers to meet their goal.
“The heart of the ministry is people who can work on cars,” Murphy says. But they also need volunteers who can handle other tasks: office duties; running errands, such as going to the DMV to transfer ownership of a vehicle; taking the tow truck to pick up a car or haul to the scrapyard; and cleaning cars and detailing them.
“Our most faithful volunteers are retirees looking for a godly reason to get out of bed in the morning. But we have a younger crowd, too, that comes by for a few hours after work,” Murphy says.
Wheels is open for volunteers on Tuesday mornings and evenings and mornings on Thursdays and Saturdays. “We’re very flexible, and we always feed our volunteers very well. It’s competitive cooking that goes on here,” Murphy says. Cho can be found chopping peppers in the kitchen area, getting started on the next meal. Next to him is Wheels’ furriest member, a Golden Retriever named Robert, a trained therapy dog.
Each time a rehabilitated vehicle leaves the Wheels garage, those who worked on it gather around the car and its new owner for prayer. The volunteers get a chance to hear the person’s story. “Some of their stories are very succinct, and others are like the Iliad and the Odyssey, but they’re usually all very moving,” Murphy says. “I’ll tell them before their speech that we need our volunteers inspired, and you need to capture their hearts so they continue to volunteer, and they do. I kid with them that ‘if you make anybody cry, I’ll hand you the keys.’”
Murphy remembers one recipient recovering from substance abuse, a woman who had once been a practicing psychiatrist. “She brought her car in for an oil change, and when it wouldn’t start, she reminded us that she had to do the breathalyzer installed on the car first, which would then allow the car to start,” he says.
A year later, she stopped by with her husband to give out pizza and an update to the Wheels team who’d helped her. Now a mother of two, she ended up getting recertified in her profession. She currently performs psychiatric evaluations for the court system to determine whether child witnesses can provide testimony and appear before a judge.
Her husband, who was jailed previously but had found his way back to a stable life, was as grateful to Wheels as she was. “‘He said, ‘I wanted to thank you guys for being there for her while I couldn’t be,’” Murphy says. “Just for people like them to know that someone cares — that’s what this ministry gets to do. To us, you’re not a person getting a handout. We are honored to have our lives intersect with yours.”
Wheels Transportation, Inc. is located at 6039 Hamilton Cleves Road, Cleves, Ohio 45002. To volunteer, donate or learn more, visit WheelsCinci.org or WheelsTransInc on Facebook.