the little sedan that could
Vanessa and her daughter, Josefine, stand next to the family’s old sedan.
After a few years of reliable service, cars begin to show their age. This is the story of a four-door sedan that served its family well – and is now on its way to serve even more families!
Purchased in 2007, this Honda Civic in Galaxy Grey metallic paint was my first new car. I was about halfway into my undergraduate degree and felt like the commutes for school and work were becoming too much for my old 1991 Toyota Wagon. It was a proud moment made possible thanks to my cosigner – my grandmother, Josefina.
Fast-forward to late 2012 and just over 100,000 miles later. My sister Vanessa was having problems with her car and kept having to borrow mine. Not that it bothered me, but I felt bad that my sister had to suffer – so I went back to the same dealer I purchased my Civic from and bought myself an Accord. That day, my grandmother accompanied me once more, only to find that I was now able to finance my own car – and she could not have been prouder.
As I waited for my new car, I called my sister and asked her to pick me up from the dealer. Little did she know, I was waiting for her with the keys to her “new” car. She was ecstatic and no doubt relieved that she would finally have reliable transportation.
Fast-forward to 2016, and about 70,000 miles later, my sister graduated with a Master in School Psychology. My old car had allowed her to do internships, work, and do grad school – all at the same time. Today, she’s a school psychologist, a wife, a mother of one (and another on the way), a homeowner, and I am a marketing manager in nonprofit – all thanks in part to the reliable transportation we had growing up.
Now in 2021, after a total of 182,918 miles, this very same Civic sits waiting to be taken on its latest journey to help build more homes for families through the Cars for Homes program. We are saddened, but we are happy that in a way, this vehicle will continue to serve – just as it has since 2007. We are delighted to know that more families will benefit from the over 14-year-old four–door sedan I so proudly purchased so many years ago thanks to my grandmother’s help.
In a way, it’s a testament to the mindset of giving that my grandmother, Josefina, instilled in us for so many years before her passing in 2014. Her memory lives on (in one shape or another) in the dining rooms that will one day allow families to celebrate birthdays and holidays, in the walls that will see parents tucking in their children night after night, in the study areas that will foster the innovators and leaders of the future, and in the homes that will help families thrive for generations to come.