Out of the Elements

Ameena is a hard-working mother of two beautiful girls, ages 8 and 5. Currently, Ameena works at a cemetery in Suitland Maryland as a sales counselor. Without her own transportation, Ameena used 3 buses to get her daughters to school and herself to work. However, the commute ended up amounting to 2.5 hours each way. “If I left work at 5:00 PM, my daughters and I wouldn’t get home until 7:30 PM,” she said.

With winter weather fast approaching, Ameena became concerned for her daughters’ health and opted to begin taking ride-sharing services. However, the costs quickly became too high, resulting in Ameena having to rent a car each week. “It felt like I was going to work just to be able to afford the drive to work!” With her exorbitant commuting costs, Ameena’s biggest struggle became not being able to save money. “I want to go back to school, but I can’t save up enough right now.”

With her newly-awarded 2003 Mercury Sable, Ameena is looking forward to spending more quality time with her girls. “The girls and I can do so much more now. On weekends, we had to stay in because I would return the rental car but now we can go anywhere we want!” Ameena is most looking forward to being able to take her girls to mosque whenever they can. “Before it would take us 5 buses to get to mosque. Now we can go whenever we want!”

Ameena would like to give her VFC car donors a big hug and say thank you because “they have taken a huge burden off of me and my children. Especially since it’s winter. We won’t have to wait outside in the elements anymore. Thank you so much.”