Hard-Working Mom Gets
Much-Needed Car

A Minneapolis-St. Paul mother and her three young children got a much-needed automobile for Christmas - thanks to Lehman's Garage, an insurance company, some college students, and donations from various firms.

Rep. Erik Paulsen shows the excited vehicle recipient, Cache, her 2004 Chevrolet Impala while Lehman’s Whitey Westlund and Mikhail Salazkin look on.

The mom, Cache, and her children were presented with a 2004 Chevrolet Impala Dec. 22 at Lehman's Garage in Bloomington, Minn.

Speaking at the presentation were Darrell Amberson, AAM, president of Lehman's Garage; Rep. Erick Paulsen, R-Minn.; Carole Carlson, executive director of Institutional Advancement at Hennepin Technical College (HTC); and Susan Neis, executive director of Cornerstone, a domestic abuse prevention agency of which the family is a client.

Neis told the group, "Every day this woman gets on the bus with those three little kids, takes them to child care, and then goes to work on the bus. At the end of the day, she turns around and does it all over again. And she does it again the next morning and the next morning and the next morning. So I cannot think of anything more that this community, and particularly Lehman's and HTC, could have done to honor the hard work of this woman, who is so deserving of this award."

Paulsen spoke of the "four winners" of the project: Lehman's Garage, its customers and contributing vendors; HTC and its students; Cornerstone; and of course, the vehicle recipient and her family.

The vehicle was donated by an insurance company (which prefers to remain anonymous) to Hennepin Technical College to be repaired at Lehman's Garage by HTC students supervised by Lehman's technicians.

"Frankly," says Amberson, "I am in awe of the generous contributions made by our staff and industry partners during these tough economic times. It's good people doing something good for others. It's a way of giving back to the community."

Amberson is director of the Automotive Service Association's Collision Division.