EMERGENCY RV

I’ve spent the last two years placing families who have lost their homes through natural disasters into free RVs so they have a place to live. But I’ve received the greatest blessing because I’ve seen God working miracles and bringing me back to Him.

I accepted Jesus at 16 but I hadn’t been walking closely with Him for some time. In 2018, my six-year-old daughter, Luna, and I were preparing to have our first Thanksgiving alone in Colorado. I wanted to do something to show her the meaning of giving. I heard about the people of Paradise, California where 50,000 people were left homeless from wildfires. I saw a story of a man giving thanks that he still had an RV to live in.

That’s when the idea came to me. Why don’t we buy a used RV, drive it to California and give it to a family that lost their home. I contacted everyone selling an RV locally on Craig’s List and told them our plan. One guy sold me his RV for $2,500 instead of the $12,000 he was asking. That was the first time God showed me His hand in this. Once Luna and I took off for Paradise, I saw more evidence of God’s presence.

On Facebook, I told people to email me if they knew of a family in Paradise that was now homeless. I got several hundred emails. But people also wrote they’d donate their RV to give to a family.

A friend in media relations heard our plan, alerted the press and we had requests from TV stations along our route to do a story on our giveaway. The requests for RVs and people wanting to donate expanded exponentially. An attorney contacted me and volunteered to set up a nonprofit for us, and the COO of a local non-profit offered to handle the processing of donations.

By the time we delivered the original RV, I had completely surrendered to God. “I see you and feel you; just show me the way and I’ll obey.” I became His instrument. Our not-for-profit ministry is called EmergencyRV.org. We’ve now delivered 88 RVs to families affected by disasters and to firefighters in California, Oregon and Colorado.

I’ve had a great seat to see how God orchestrated all this. I originally thought this was my idea, but it’s obvious I’m not the one driving the RV.