New Gate School...Recreating Education and Transportation.

my husband and i made a difficult but right decision about our vehicles. Today we finished downsizing from 3 to 1. We'd had all kinds of hopes and dreams for the big green monster van. we bought it last year for the sole purpose of transporting equipment, and we thought eventually we could do a little traveling in it to share our music and mission. It was a conversion van, and jason was excited to make it our own. well, as time has gone by we've realized that it just isn't going to serve the purposes we thought it would. we've covered rust with duct tape and we've been putting at least $80 a month into for gas...so bad for the environment...time for a new vision.

The other vehicle we had was my mom's, a descent car that was to simply be our second vehicle for jason to drive to work in and back and whatever. well, now it needs about $1,000 worth of repairs and we just don't have the money to do that, though it's still a pretty good car. since it's been undrivable, jason's been using the van as a second vehicle, and thus the extra expences in gas.

So here's what we did. We decided that a good environmentally friendly decision would be to get down to one vehicle. So we sold the van for parts to a place that will be sure the most parts are used and the rest is disposed of properly. Then, today we donated the other care to New Gate School. This is a place where folks who can't afford to go to a technical school can receive training in auto work and then if the cars are good enough, they pass then along to single mothers who otherwise might not be able to go to work. Check out their programs at thier site.

I think New Gate School is a terrific example of folks taking a least three potential problems, reimagining how these can become opportunites, and bringing the community together to recreate itself. This excites me and i hope we see more and more of this happen.

Now, Jason and i have one vehicle, and the communication about our schedules and carpooling will be as high as it's ever been. hopefully, our carbon footprint will be slightly smaller, and my hope is that a single-parent family will be significantly blessed with a good car after someone else had received education that will provide employment and a means to support their family too! wow!