Vehicle donation helps Desert Shores family get back on track

About five years ago, Frank Jones, 54, and his wife, Carolyn Morgan-Jones, 53, slept well at night.

They had saved up enough money to open a dry cleaning shop, Seasons, near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Alexander Road. The business had seen a fabulous first six months in 2007, bringing in an estimated $256,000. Elated with their success, they planned to expand to more locations.

"The business was my dream," Carolyn Morgan-Jones said.

Then things took a turn for the worse. Frank's leg injury from being in the Marine Corps flared up, and he required surgery. Soon after, Carolyn discovered a lump on her back. Too busy working, she put off getting it checked out. When she finally did, she learned that she had lipoma, a type of cancer, which also required surgery.

Still, the couple soldiered on, relying on their nine employees when they couldn't be at the shop.

Then the bank called and asked them to come in for a talk. They learned that their bookkeeper had been stealing money from the business the whole first year.

"He was a man of God, a bishop at the church we went to," Frank said. "He was taking it out as fast as we were putting it in ... We were shocked."

The couple closed the business and declared bankruptcy. They lost their house and had just over $4,000 in the bank.

They were at the courthouse filing papers against the bookkeeper when a gregarious man approached them. He had a large house in Aliante and needed to find new tenants. Did they know of anyone?

"He had a Mercedes-Benz; he was dressed nice," Carolyn said about why the couple trusted him.

Thankful for such a lucky happenstance, they paid him a deposit and two months rent to prove they were upstanding citizens. Along with their two children, 16-year-old Isaiah and 12-year-old Victoria, they moved in and painted the walls - blue in Isaiah's room and pink in Victoria's.

Soon after, three men knocked on their front door. They were from a bank, the true owner of the foreclosed house. The Joneses were told they had to move out immediately.

"I showed them all the receipts, where I'd signed it, where he'd (the former owner) signed it," Frank said. "The (bank representative) said, 'I can't believe this guy did this to you.' "

Seeing a bedridden Carolyn, fresh from surgery, the three bankers felt moved to talk to their superiors. The result was that the family was given two weeks to find a new place, but that was all the bank could do.

They moved out. For the next couple of weeks, the Jones family slept in its 1996 Jeep Cherokee, usually pulling into parks at night. It was the summer of 2008 and miserably hot in the vehicle. They had to put the windows down. Frank slept intermittently, listening for approaching footsteps or any sign of trouble.

"He watched over us," Carolyn said.

They secured a weekly rental at Budget Suites. But the Jeep died, leaving them without transportation to doctors appointments.

Organizations such as The Salvation Army and Family Promise of Las Vegas provided the boost to get the family back on its feet.

"We didn't want a hand 'out,' we needed a hand 'up,' " Frank said.

Family Promise, 320 S. Ninth St., serves up to 25 families daily with three housing programs designed for lasting independence.

The couple followed a budget plan and secured an apartment in Desert Shores. Their children made up for lost time at school and are both straight-A students.

Recycled Rides, a nationwide program in which collision repair companies, insurers, suppliers and vendors collaborate to refurbish and donate vehicles, gave six vehicles to Family Promise families in Las Vegas Nov. 1. The Joneses were tapped to receive a GMC Terrain, supplied by Allstate Insurance.

"We try to give away four-door vehicles ... But if we have a family of five, then we give them a van," said Chuck Sulkala, executive director of the National Auto Body Council.

Participants in the program include GEICO, State Farm, Progressive and Enterprise, which donated vehicles that were repaired and refurbished by Caliber Collision, Collision Authority and Gerber Collision & Glass.

"It fits our mission and vision statement to establish the respect of the collision repair industry in the eyes of the general public," said Nick Notte, president of Sterling Autobody Centers. "That's our goal, to really prove to the public that collision repair isn't what's historically thought of when you go to a body shop. (You think) of ... just a bad place. So we take vehicles that are donated from insurance companies that are total losses ... take them in and fix them."

To get a free vehicle, recipients have to prove they could sustain themselves and have a savings plan. Before taking delivery, they have to pay the registration fees and secure insurance.

"We try to make it fair, but they earn it," said Terry Lindemann, executive director of the local Family Promise. "These gifts through the Recycled Rides are a game-changer for our families."

The GMC Terrain means Frank Jones can enroll in a vocational training program for veterans. He wants to go into social work.

"I want to support my family and move over and let them help somebody else," he said. "Even when we went through some things, they (their children) didn't succumb to peer pressure or get into drugs or things. I'm so proud of them."

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 702-387-2949.