Everett Auto Repair Shop Gives Car to Community Member

Everett, Washington- M&N Absolute  Auto Repair of Everett, Washington participated in their annual, “Wheels to Prosper” Car Giveaway on July 30th, 2016.

Mike and Vicki  Doherty, the owners of M&N Absolute Auto Repair learned of the program in 2012 when they met Dino, the founder of Wheels to Prosper and immediately thought the program was fantastic.  Over the next year, Mike and Vicki  reached out to other participants from previous years and local vendors to make sure they followed the “Wheels to Prosper” mission and goals.

Wheels to Prosper  is a nationwide program where (56) car repair shops volunteer to participate and  award  a worthy and deserving person from their local community a car that has been fully serviced and is in good working condition. Until this year, M&N Absolute Auto Repair  has been the only automobile  repair shop in Washington State that has participated in the program.

Community Members submit nominations for people in the  community who they believe “go the extra mile” and really give back to their community.  A panel of independent  judges then review the submission and narrow it down and select a winner.

All the winners from each participating Auto Repair shop in each state are simultaneously presented their car at the same time on the last Saturday in July.

This year the potential winners were narrowed down to two finalist.  Skagit County Resident Keith “Captn Seaglass” Kirchgesler of Big Lake  and Snohomish County resident Judy Moseley of Monroe.

I met Keith in 2010  when Patti Krieger went missing, Keith was one of the lead volunteer searchers in our community  effort to locate Patti.   Keith still displays photos  and signs from findpattikrieger.net in  his driveway and he continues to stand out at busy intersections in Skagit County to bring continued awareness to the Unsolved Missing Persons Case of Patti Krieger.

Keith “Captn Seaglass” Kirchgesler is well known in Skagit County for always dressing up like a pirate and bringing smiles to the faces of those around him.

In 1991 doctors found 7 tumors in his throat and head.  Keith had multiple surgeries and was told he would never eat or speak again. Surgeries and radiation left him with difficulty speaking and hearing loss but today you wouldn’t know it.

 

24-years later, Keith is proving  doctors wrong and is a  cancer survivor and  can be found donating his time at local events, parades and the County Fair with his custom homemade “pirate ship”.

Keith Volunteers every week at the Helping Hands Food Bank in Sedro Woolley.  Keith picks up litter and aluminum cans along the highway, and volunteers at the local schools and churches to clean up the flower beds and stay active in the community.

A thief stole Keith’s Truck from his home in Big Lake in September of  2013 and damaged it to the point it couldn’t be fixed.  The truck was later found on September 30th, 2013 by SkagitBreaking.com in Burlington and the suspect was arrested. Unfortunately  the damage was already done.

Jason Miller with the Concrete Herald  did a two page write up on Keith and his cancer  Journey, which features Keith  on the front Page of the August 2016 edition of The Concrete Herald in East Skagit County. The Front page can be viewed below.

As a local celebrity, Keith was seen signing autographs of the Concrete Herald paper while he was  in the Cascade Days Parade in Concrete, Washington after the article was published.

When asked about his thoughts on being  nominated to possibly win a car and selected by the panel of judges  as a finalist,  Keith said “I’m tickled to be selected as a finalist. I don’t volunteer for recognition, I do it to give back to the community,  so it is a real honor to be selected as a finalist.”

Judy Moseley  is the 2nd finalist selected.  Judy has lived in Monroe for over 10-years and started off helping the founder of the Monroe Woman’s Gospel Mission which houses 18 woman.  The mission founder says  Judy  has done so much for the mission. She helps support the church that is part of the mission by cleaning it and volunteering for events. Judy  transports women from the Mission to some of the functions at the church as well as to some of their other appointments.  The Main mission house has a bible study every morning. The man who teaches it on Monday mornings had to give up his drivers license due to his health and age. Judy has been taking him to the mission so he can do the bible study with the women from the mission.  Judy  also transports  him to his Doctor appointments, takes him shopping and runs other errands that he needs to run. All he has to do is call and she is on her way to help him.  The same goes for the mission, if anyone needs her help  Judy is there volunteering her time. If Judy sees anyone  struggling, she does what she can to help them out. Judy has had a hard life herself, and she is senior on disability. This is what makes her so giving and caring because she doesn’t want anyone to have to suffer the way she did. Being selected to win the vehicle would allow her to have a dependable vehicle to continue to run errands and transport  everyone from the mission back and forth to their appointment. The vehicle would help several people in the community.

Owners Mike and Vicki Doherty say the Wheels to Prosper program is a  way for them  to give back to the  community and recognize someone in the community that has selflessly given their time and energy to the community. Vicki said “We completely support our community and giving back to those who give so much to the community  is something we are proud to be a part of.  I wish we had a hundred cars to give away, because there are so many people doing good things in our community for others.

 

This year, the Panel of independent judges selected Judy Moseley as the winner of the car.  Judy  was presented the keys to a beautiful PT Cruiser by Owner Mike Doherty of M&N Absolute Auto Repair at the July 31st Wheels to Prosper BBQ and Customer Appreciation picnic at Silver Lake Park.

Judy was ecstatic to win.  She said she has never won anything in her life and “this car is going to be used to help so many people!”

The car was completely gone through and updated by M&N Absolute Auto Repair of Everett, Oreilly’s Auto Parts, Karmichael’s Auto Salon of Mukilteo, BJ’s Automotive of Everett and Team Referral Network was an instrumental part of the process.

As runner up, Keith Received a prepaid Visa Gift Card, which made him light up with joy. Keith said, “I never expected to win anything. I’m so thankful for all of this.  I am so happy for Judy, she does great things in the community and she will put the car to good use and it will allow her to help many people. I’m really happy to have met her and everyone else at the picnic. I was even invited back to next years picnic.”

Keith said he is going to use some of his winnings to do some repairs on his pirate ship so he can continue to bring joy to people and buy an automatic can crusher to make crushing cans to recycle easier on him.

Previous Winners were, Peyton Teague-Schmidt, Winner of the ’99 Subaru Outback Legacy in 2015.

Sandra Dillings, Winner of the ’00 Dodge Intrepid in 2015

Mike Thomas, Winner of the ’04 Honda Civic in 2014

The Next Car Giveaway is already in the works and will be held on Saturday July 29th, 2017 at Silver Lake Park in Everett, Washington. Visit www.wheelstoprosper.com to submit your story or to  nominate someone in the community today.

Note: If you are a local auto repair shop that is looking to start a similar program at your business, please contact SkagitBreaking.com once you have the program in place so we can help you advertise it at no charge. Giving back to the community is something we are passionate about as well.