Imagine a single mother walking more than a mile every morning, toting three toddlers to day care, then dishing out $20 for a taxi ride to work.

She does it all over again on the way home, even in winter and bad weather.

Why don’t they take the bus? Because that’s not always an option. As Susan Swain of Bedford explains it, “If home, day care and work aren’t all on the bus line, you’re out of luck.”

Plus, the buses stop running at 6 p.m. and don’t run on Sundays at all.

Swain is the marketing and development manager in New Hampshire and Massachusetts for a nonprofit called Good News Garage.

Some good news – in the form of a Ford Windstar minivan – came to single mom Yesenia Morales right around Christmas in 2008.

Morales, originally from Puerto Rico, lives in Manchester with her 4-year-old twins and 2-year-old daughter. There is no bus running from her neighborhood to her job at the briefbriefbriefbriefbriefArbors of Bedford.

Swain said thanks to the minivan from Good News Garage, Morales has managed to keep her job at the Arbors. She’s been there for eight months now and is studying for her licensed nursing assistant degree.

What is Good News Garage?
Good News Garage is a nonprofit social service garage. They accept donated vehicles, repair them and provide them to qualified, low-income individuals.

“Our mission is create economic opportunity by providing affordable and reliable transportation options for people in need,” Swain said.

Good News Garage is a program of Lutheran Social Services, and the company began 13 years ago in Burlington, Vt., with founder Hal Colston.

Swain said Colston was a case worker who saw many people who could get a job, but couldn’t get to their job.

With the help of the Lutheran Church, Colston brought to life his idea for a “community garage” – a place where those struggling to get out of poverty could buy a car that was affordable, safe and reliable. In the last 13 years, Good News Garage has awarded more than 3,500 vehicles and now operates in Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Swain said Good News Garage opened in New Hampshire seven years ago and has awarded about 550 vehicles.

The New Hampshire office is awarding about 10 vehicles per month, but Swain said they field 30 to 40 calls or e-mails a week from people asking for help.

“Everything hinges on donations,” Swain said.

Every donation is a tax deduction for the donor. The owner can deduct the fair market value of the vehicle.

A donor’s story David and Michelle MacKay of Bedford, owners of MacKay Vision Center, have donated to Good News Garage twice.

They donated a Dodge Stratus about five years ago. Michelle MacKay said her family was getting a new car, and her children weren’t anywhere near driving age yet. Since the Stratus was still in good condition, they looked into this program they heard about on the radio.

“We heard about (Good News Garage) on National Public Radio,” she said. Just this year, the MacKays donated a moped to Good News Garage. “I actually had won it, and I thought, ‘I really can’t see us tooling around in it,” MacKay said.

They decided it would be put to good use by someone living in the city – someone in need the Good News Garage could find. MacKay said they try to pass on the good word about Good News Garage, and a few of their friends have also donated in the past.

Honoring a success story
Swain said the organization is buzzing with its own good news – Colston and Good News Garage will be featured on the Oprah Winfrey show.

A TV crew filmed Colston at the Burlington office, plus the Oprah show flew Colston to Chicago for a taping with Winfrey at her studio. The show is scheduled to air on May 19.

To learn more about the organization, visit www.goodnewsgarage. org.