FARMINGTON — United Way of the Tri-Valley Area [UWTVA] is receiving $10,000 in grant funds from the Maine Charity Foundation Fund of the Maine Community Foundation [MaineCF] for their “Don’t Despair Car Repair” program. The program, which launched in spring of 2022, is designed to help those who own vehicles, but do not have the funds to fix any issues the vehicles may be experiencing.

Since receiving their first application in May of last year, UWTVA has helped more than 40 households and distributed more than $38,000 for car repairs for those who qualified.

“[The program] is geared towards helping people get to and from work, or seniors over 65 to get to medical appointments that are out of town and stuff,” Nichole Ernest, Director of Marketing and Communications, stated in a phone interview.

“We see transportation as a major barrier in our community,” she added, “to getting and keeping a job, staying healthy and keeping your medical and dental appointments, getting to mental health appointments, being able to go get your groceries, and just everyday stuff.”

To apply for the program, applicants must visit the United Way office, located at 218 Fairbanks Rd. in Farmington. Originally, applications were available online, but since Sept. 14, applications can only be done in person.

“What we found were that a lot of the folks, they would tell the garages that we had already pre-approved them and they needed to be moved to the front of the line,” Ernest stated.

Now, applicants are screened closely by UWTVA and once the application is completed, they would be sent to a designated garage to have their repairs estimated.

As of Feb. 2022, 13 garages are affiliated with the program, and they are as follows:

• Foster Career and Technical Education Center [Farmington]

• Phillips Motor Sports [Farmington]

• Romano’s Garage [Livermore Falls]

• Rick’s Auto [Wilton]

• Boyce’s Auto [Kingfield]

• Poulin’s Garage [Kingfield]

• Merrill’s Garage [Jay]

• Hilltop Collision [Jay]

• Pierre’s Garage [East Jay]

• Randy Keach Auto [New Sharon]

• RP Auto Repair [Rangeley]

• KOOBS Garage [Oquossoc]

• Maine Wrench [Strong]

According to Ernest, Hilltop Collision in Jay has stopped taking clients from the program due to a high backlog but are still listed as participants in the program. “They’re so sought after for their body work and stuff,” Ernest stated.

Response from the garages has also been extremely positive, with one even going above and beyond to help a women get her car back on the road.

“We had one garage where a car went,” Ernest said, ”and the guy was like, ‘I’m really sorry, but this car is not worth fixing. It’s not worth what you’re gonna have to pay to get it inspected.’”

One of the criteria of the program is the repairs made to the car must allow it to pass inspections, otherwise the car will not qualify for participation. Unfortunately for this person, the car did not qualify because of the amount of work that needed to be done.

However, the mechanic made a house call to inspect another vehicle the person owned to see if that car would meet the criteria. It did, and the owner filled out a second application with UWTVA for that vehicle instead.

“[She] is back on the road with a vehicle that runs but it didn’t even occur to her to get that one repaired,” Ernest said. “Until he said, ‘well, let me take a look at it and see.’

“For me, that’s going above and beyond,” she added.

For more information on the program, or UWTVA, please contact them at [207] 778-5048.