Fixing a car helps family in need

Shannon Valdez, owner of Central Collision Center in Salt Lake Valley, is in the business of repairing cars. But this year she did something different — she repaired lives.

Shannon has seen countless cars come through her shop that could've been repaired, but the insurance companies declared them totaled because the repairs weren't deemed cost-effective. For years, she wanted to do something more than watch them go to the salvage yard to rust with the clunkers. Why not fix up one of those cars and give it to someone who needs it, she wondered.

She began hunting for a good car last March and found one — a 2007 Chevrolet Impala that had been struck in the side by another car — and then looked for help. She asked Bear River Insurance to donate the salvaged car. She called Hillside Tire in Sandy, and it offered her a free set of new tires. She called Akzo Nobel for paint and McKees for glass, and on and on it went. Larry H. Miller Chevrolet, Keystone, LKQ, Price Towing, Airbag Services — they all wanted to help. Shannon paid her technicians to fix the car.

It takes a village to raise a car.

Everyone was swept up in the project. An anonymous Bear River employee donated six months of car insurance.

All they needed was someone who needed a car, and for that Shannon turned to Catholic Community Services. The agency began interviewing candidates without telling them what it was about.

"They thought it was a survey," says Shannon. "We didn't want someone who was looking for a handout."

In the end, they selected a young woman named Nelda Mangum, although she didn't know it at the time. At 25, she already has a head start on collecting life challenges. Her husband suffers from Crohn's disease. During the bad spells, he becomes so sick that he is unable to work and makes frequent visits to the doctor. A commercial painter, he struggles to hold a job because of his health.

Then there is their 2-year-old daughter, the youngest of four children. She suffers from undiagnosed health problems that cause, among other things, seizures. She usually has at least one or two doctor appointments daily.

It's a full-time job just driving to the various doctors' offices, or it is when they have a car.