Wheels of Hope

PALMER — William Lawler didn’t want to risk breaking down in his ’94 Ford Explorer by driving it from Texas to Alaska. Plus, the gas alone would have run about $1,200, he figured.

But he knew he needed to get to Alaska soon to take care of his two older sisters, who were both disabled and living at Mile 9 Knik-Goose Bay Road. Neither was able to drive and the closest store was miles away.

So he sold his old friend for a ticket to fly him northward, arriving in the Valley Dec. 1 with few possessions.

Only a few weeks later on Wednesday, the former car salesman who’s had heart surgery and now battles diabetes was driving another Ford Explorer, except this one was six years newer and it didn’t cost him a cent.

“I want people to know about this because I want them to know what God can do,” said Lawler, 66. “I think I was meant to come up here now, instead of next summer like I originally planned. God brought me up here and now he’s brought us this new vehicle to help us get around.”

Whether it was a higher power, good Karma or simply dumb luck, a combination of events had to first occur before Lawler was handed the keys and title to the 2000 burgundy Explorer at Alaska Family Services in Palmer through the first ever Wheels of Hope program.

About nine months ago, Pastor Duane Guisinger, of Sunny Knik Chapel, decided to unload his Ford Explorer after racking up 130,000 miles and realizing fixing it would have cost him more than it was worth.

He sold it to Brian Linsdale of FishHook Tire & Auto. Linsdale just happened to be the president of the NAPA Auto Centers Development Group, a committee of seven Valley auto shop owners and parts dealers who get together once a month to discuss marketing strategies and whatnot.

Linsdale had heard about a car giveaway program in the Lower 48 and wondered if his group would be interested in trying it here to help a needy family in the community.

“Since we’re in the transportation industry, anytime we can give back to the community in that way is a good thing,” Linsdale explained Wednesday.

So they teamed up with Alaska Family Services a couple of months ago for help in finding possible recipients of the program and got to work on Guisinger’s Explorer.

As they replaced the brakes and tires, did about $3,000 worth of engine work and detailed the interior, Alaska Family Services spread the word through its own client base, its website, local churches and the local newspaper.

Soon, 53 families hoping to win the vehicle each submitted an application and a 150-word essay to AFS. One of those essays was written by Lawler’s sister Susan on Dec. 10.

Susan Lawler, 67, explained in the essay that because she lost the use of her hands through a car accident and her older sister Patricia is mentally disabled, they’ve had to rely on her daughter for transportation since their brother William doesn’t have a car.

“My daughter is close by, but has a family consisting of her husband, 10-year-old son, 20-year-old stepson and tends 24/7 to my 21-year-old mentally and physically handicapped granddaughter,” she wrote. “The available transportation out here is practically nonexistent. Having a vehicle would give each of us a little bit of independence and reduce the burden upon my daughter.”

William Lawler said Wednesday one thing his sister didn’t mention in the essay was the fact that she has lived in the Valley since 1963 and in 2006 suffered the loss of her son on Easter Sunday.

That’s when Patricia moved up to live with her.

The family also had lost their father when they were only teenagers, and their baby sister died in 1986 after a car accident.

“This family has been through a lot,” he said. “So we’re real close. You have to be. Family is family.”

Alaska Family Services President/CEO Donn Bennice said that although all the Wheels of Hope applicants had a heart-wrenching story, the top four were particularly moving.

“One gentleman who was disabled and didn’t have a place to live was a strong candidate,” Bennice said. “One family had four kids and a father who’d been out of work for awhile.”

Bennice said the selection committee was particularly drawn to the Lawler family because they were disabled seniors living together and trying to take care of one another.

When Pastor Guisinger heard that the winners of his vehicle were thanking God for their good fortune, he found great comfort in that. Lawler, in turn, believes the vehicle is already blessed since it once belonged to a pastor.

“Funny how that works,” Guisinger said Wednesday. “There’s a rhyme and a reason for everything.”

And this most likely won’t be the last time the Wheels of Hope program helps a local family. The NAPA Auto Centers group already has its eye on a 1998 GMC minivan as its next fixer-up vehicle.

“I like to help people,” said Rob Bynum of Master Auto. “Somebody was nice to me once. It’s a Biblical principle to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Plus, it’s fun to see people get blessed like this.”

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.