'Luck and prayer': Mother of 2 in need receives car through Goodwill Industries
Imagine receiving a surprise car on Friday, celebrating your birthday on Saturday, and becoming engaged on Sunday.
This whirlwind is the reality of Katrina Newlin, Goodwill's most recent employee to earn a donated vehicle through the company's "Wheels to Work" program.
Only a few short weeks after her previous car broke down beyond repair, Newlin received a used one on Good Friday, courtesy of Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee.
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Combatting chaos
Before she began working at the Goodwill in Lexington in September 2022, she was a stay-at-home mom, cemented in an abusive and tumultuous marriage. While navigating the homeschooling and caretaking of her children, her husband was battling a methamphetamine addiction and was repeatedly fired from his jobs.
After years of broken promises and being told to "stay still" and "be patient" by her husband, Newlin was routinely left feeling lost and drained.
When he left the home due to his substance abuse, she had no choice but to look for work for the first time in 20 years.
That's when she called the Goodwill in Lexington.
Wheels to Work program gets recipients rolling in right direction
Beginning in 2013, the vehicle donation program offers an opportunity for Goodwill employees in need to apply to receive a donated vehicle.
Any donated vehicle must be in good working condition and have minimal cosmetic damage. Eligibility requirements for recipients are minimal and require employment for at least one year, full-time.
Once Goodwill employees apply to receive it, they are prioritized in order of need. As a single mom of two young children amid a divorce, Newlin was at the top of the list.
Referring to it as a "death trap", Newlin's 2008 Chevrolet Cavalier was barely getting her to where she needed to go.
The air conditioner worked, so long as she wasn't stopped at a red light. In which case, it would overheat, the engine would have to be turned off, and she'd be temporarily left without a working A/C in the Tennessee cold and heat.
It had windows that only rolled up about halfway while the gaps were covered in duct tape to not let rain or snow in.
"Imagine in the wintertime what the windshield did, it fogged over. So you have one child in the front seat wiping your window down because the defroster doesn't work very well, while you're trying to drive through all this mess," Newlin said.
The Cavalier kicked the bucket a few weeks after Newlin had applied for Wheels to Work, amplifying her prioritization. She is now the proud owner of a 2006 Honda Accord.
"It's by luck and prayer that I got it," she said.
Redemption is possible
Newlin began at Goodwill part-time and has proven to be a star employee. Now working full-time, she has goals to advance to a shift lead.
Considering she has never left the side of her children for the entirety of their lives, she says the most challenging adjustment was being separated from her children while at work. Other than that, she says they are the happiest they've ever been.
"From them learning broken promises and heartache and everything bad, now we have happiness," she said.
"I've showed them how to be strong, I've showed them how to make their lives better, and I'm going to continue doing that."
She offered a word of solace for anyone in a current circumstance adjacent to Newlin's experience.
"Better things are coming, give it all to God, and be with someone that's going to make you happy," she said.
Sarah Best is a reporter for The Jackson Sun.
This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Lexington Goodwill awards car to mother of two in need of vehicle
