Students Donate Refurbished Car To Single Mom
MONROEVILLE (KDKA) - When students at Forbes Road Career and Technology Center in Monroeville were given a car to work on, they decided to make it count. Thursday morning, they presented the finished product to a hard-working mother who could really use a new set of wheels.
Josh Krentz and his students had spent more than a hundred hours repairing a heavily damaged vehicle, using donated parts.
"We'd like to present you with the keys to your brand new Toyota Corolla."
Flanked by the students who made it possible, principal Dave Barr made it official. Julie Marasco didn't just win the car. She earned it.
"I honestly can't believe it's mine," she beamed. "I really can't believe it's mine." The single mother works at Macy's, in Pittsburgh Mills.
"I have two young boys, seven and eight years old," she said. "And with their activities, and CCD and Boy Scouts, and getting back and forth to a full time job, it's been insane."
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A friend encouraged her to apply to the Recycled Rides program. Then, she said, she got a call at work.
"I couldn't believe it. I almost hung up on him, because I didn't believe it."
The presentation of the keys was also a special moment for the students.
"Students realized they can really make a change in someone's life," the instructor said. "And that was a big goal in this project. The fact that someone's life's going to be changed by this"
Josh Krentz hopes Julie Marasco is the first of many winners.
"I keep telling my boys about it, because I'm like, boys, you may go to school there one day," the new owner said, before driving away. "They can see what these kids do for people, and change their lives."