UPDATE: 2/14/10 Passenger side door opens, but does not close now - so can't use it - have to climb over the console to get into passenger seat when my fiance is driving! So much fun with boots, bulky, warm winter coats, scarf, gloves! te he! te he! It's interesting - you should see when I have to go for an interview and am wearing a skirt!!!! Not that I've had many interviews, but hopefully this too shall change!~~~~ Crunching, creaking and rattling are just some of the noises coming from my 19 year old car, that has 260,000+ miles on it. That's just going down the road to the grocery store! Can you imagine the sounds it makes when I drive on the Interstate for 2 hours, one way, to get to NJ! The mileage is due to traveling 120 miles one way for the past 19 years, from NJ to PA. There is a huge rust area on the roof of the car, right over the driver side, so when it rains, I get a puddle on the floor. There are rusted out areas near the wheel wells, and who knows what the undercarriage looks like. I have lost some of the insulation between the outside and inside of the car body. So it gets kinda of noisy! Oh, did I forget to mention the peeling paint that flies off the car while I'm driving! I have gone through 3 or 4 transmissions (lost count) and my car is on its second engine. Routine and proper maintenance has enabled me to have my car for 19 years. But alas, its on its last leg. That would not be much of a problem except for the fact that I have not been working for the last 2 years, and for the past 5 years only on temporary assignments. I am now looking for work back in NJ (where I come from) and with the 2 hour/one-way trip, my current vehicle would never make it! I have not been able to save anything from my unemployment checks to put aside for a used vehicle, and even that money is running out soon! Still not a problem, or that great of one. The real problem comes in the form of - my 19 year old car is the ONLY vehicle my fiance and I have access too, since his truck was totalled while it was being repaired! The repair shop forgot to inform us that the engine compartment on his truck caught on fire while they were working on it! Can you say Oops! Not much resolution there, minimum, enough to pay the bills while trying to get them to be held responsible for his loss. Anything you can do to help me in this situation will be appreciated. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share with you my story. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UPDATE: 1/21/10: Now that Brian Williams at MSNBC is back from reporting live from Haiti and the disaster that struck there last week - I am suggesting that NOW would be a great time to start emailing him to profile Brian Menzies and Free Charity Cars on his "Making A Difference" series. I have sent a second letter to him today - please, let us all send a letter to him and hopefully, if he sees FCC enough times in his email - he may be interested - at least he'll check it out! What better person do you know who is really Making a Difference more than our very own Brian!? It can only help you if MSNBC does a story about FCC! YOU will be the WINNER !! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2nd UPDATE 1/10/10: We need to BOMBARD all of these places we are emailing in order to promote BRIAN and FCC - so that the ONLY story that they keep seeing in their email is BRIAN MENZIES AND FCC's - I will put my my submission that I sent to Brian Williams at MSNBC below, if you want copy and paste I don't care - just get it to Brian Williams!!!!~~~~~~~~ We need to promote Brian Menzies and FCC on this site and it is very easy to do -please everyone submit your story and PROMOTE FCC! Thank you. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here's what I sent to Brian William at MSNBC for his Making A Difference series:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am writing to you in the hope that you will spotlight this very worthwhile charity and its CEO, Brian Menzies. It is called Free Charity Cars and can be found at www.Freecharitycars.org. Mr. Menzies is also a “Change-maker” nominee, on Change.org, for his “Poverty in America” cause. Free Charity Cars was the winner of the Walt Disney World Outstanding Community Service Award! The “FCC” is a non-profit charity, established in 1996, which provides refurbished vehicles to struggling individuals or qualified entities. 4000 vehicles to be exact! Mr. Menzies is considered the pioneer of the free-car ownership concept. Year, after year, his charity leads the nation in awarding free vehicles to deserving candidates across America. It is a totally self-sufficient charity and does not receive any government funding. To learn more about Mr. Menzies and this charitable organization, I invite you to visit the above website and click on the tab “About Us”, “Who We Are” and/or “Home”, watch the videos or do a search for “Brian/Freecharitycars” and read his story. As a hopeful car recipient participant on his website, I feel it is my duty to help promote this very worthwhile charity and not just sit back and “hope I get a car.” I invite you to visit www.Freecharitycars.org and read some of the stories. This site is a Godsend, not only to me, but to the thousands that are on it. I am not satisfied with just "voting" for the others on this site and raising my "karma level” in the hope of "getting" a car, I feel the need to "work for" or "earn" this vehicle and I am doing that by bringing attention to Mr. Menzies and his charitable organization, his selflessness, tireless efforts and good deeds. I truly hope that you will feature this charitable organization on your “Making a Difference” segment, because Mr. Menzies IS making a difference for thousands of lives. Thank you for this opportunity to share this story and promote this very worthwhile organization. Mr. Menzies can be reached at INFO@800charitycars.org. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~