Along the way, he learned some lessons. One was how many people are hurting badly, he said, and you can't tell by looking if the person next to you in the checkout line at the supermarket is doing OK or not. Even in Washington County, one of Minnesota's wealthiest, there are many people in desperate circumstances. I was totally oblivious. Another thing he soon realized was that it was naive to work on a car, to get a sincere thank-you from the owner and think that you have solved the problem.
Clients are likely to get into another bad situation.
To single moms, he realized, it makes sense to neglect a car if it still moves, particularly when the family needs groceries or the rent needs paying. And that's not all, Friedrich said. It steals their peace. So the program broadened. We learned you can give a person a car or fix a car, but unless you fix some habits they'll be back in the same place when the car breaks down the next time.