Single mothers receive free cars packed with gifts from Minneapolis nonprofit

MINNEAPOLIS — It was a Christmas miracle Tuesday for a dozen single mothers who got the keys to a free car.

The gift came through the Wheels for Women program at the Newgate School in Minneapolis, a nonprofit that gives free auto repair training to underserved young adults.

The vehicles were donated to the school, then refurbished by students.

Ondrea Watts, a single mom from St. Paul with four children at home, left with a minivan.

“It’s hard to get all your kids dressed and go out in the cold and get on a bus and do all the things you need to do,” she said. “It was breaking me, but this is the miracle that my kids and my family have been asking for and praying for.”

Wheels for Women has given more than 700 cars away since the 1990s.

“When you hand them the keys to the car, when they come in and see those cars, it’s like a sense of relief comes over them,” said Kelly Gulbrandson with Apple Autos, one of the partners that donated the vehicles.

Every car came packed with presents, including self-care gift bags.

“You need to take a little care of yourself,” said Dr. Mohiba Tareen of Tareen Dermatology, a sponsor. “Often when you’re a mom and you’re taking care of everyone else, you put yourself last.”

Watts says the first order of business will be picking her kids up from school.

“It’s going to be amazing,” she said. “They see their mom outside picking them up, they’re gonna lose it. It’s gonna be nothing but…tears but happy, happy, blessed tears. This is beyond anything that I could ever imagine.”

To qualify for the program, the single mothers had to be working or in school full-time and making less than $35,000 a year.