KAILUA-KONA — When Kohala resident Rochelle Javillo found out she’d be getting a car for the holidays, she just broke down.
KAILUA-KONA — When Kohala resident Rochelle Javillo found out she’d be getting a car for the holidays, she just broke down.
“It was like, ‘Oh my God,’” she said at a presentation Friday where she was handed the car keys. “I just started crying. I was so happy.”
Javillo was diagnosed earlier this year with cancer. She regularly has to travel for chemotherapy from Kohala to Waimea, but has had to rely on borrowing a car from her mother.
She was eventually referred to the Big Island Giving Tree, where she met co-coordinator Rhonda Bell, who, just earlier this month, was approached by Auto Body Hawaii about finding a family who could use a refurbished car.
After meeting, Bell said she wanted to get to know Javillo and invited her to Bell’s office.
As the two got acquainted, Bell learned more of Javillo’s remarkable story. She had been caring for her ill father, her son had been in a dirt bike accident a couple years ago and just last year her older son had been diagnosed with pituitary tumors.
Auto Body Hawaii has given away a car to a family in need eight times in the past decade.
When Bell heard about Javillo’s car troubles, she said, “it just fell in my lap that way.”
General manager Dale Matsumoto said the car gifting is always an emotional experience.
“This is something we’ve committed to do on an annual basis,” he said. “If we can get the vehicle, we can do this.”
When a car is wrecked to the point it’s considered a total loss, he said, insurance companies will come in and take possession of the car after paying the former owner.
Often times, he said, those cars are sold at auction for salvage.
Each year, however, Auto Body Hawaii seeks out a car that can be fixed up and repaired to be given away to a family in need.
About six months ago, said Reynold Doi, vice president of claims at First Insurance Co. of Hawaii, Auto Body Hawaii reached out about donating a car.
Matsumoto credited Rissa Matsumoto for “connecting the dots” between everyone involved.
The insurance company was able to donate a 2014 Nissan Versa, which would otherwise have headed to the salvage yard.
Representatives from the various companies that contributed to the day’s event gathered at Auto Body Hawaii Friday afternoon to officially hand off the keys to Javillo’s car, which was topped with a giant bow.
After giving the woman the keys and a few extra gifts, Javillo got in the car to a round of applause before turning on the ignition to the car and eventually heading off in her new ride.
The ability to donate the car, Doi said, “brings joy to everyone in our company.”
“To be able to provide that, it’s a wonderful thing that we could do,” he added.
Matsumoto said New City Nissan in Honolulu donated 100 percent of the parts to fix up the car.
The result, he said, is a car that’s in great condition.
“This is like the ideal car to gift away,” he said.
In fact, he said, the labor and repairs practically make the car as valuable as the original cost of the car.
“We’re really thankful we have the opportunity to give back to the community,” he said.
Javillo said she was glad the car was one fewer concern and she can now focus on herself and her family.
“I just wanna thank them, from me and my family,” she said.