A single mom in Georgia got the surprise of her life when a local auto shop raised more than $165,000 for her and her two children.
Annette Morales of Camden County had taken her used car to Royalty Auto Service after it kept breaking down, according to local news outlet News4Jax.
The shop’s owner, Sherwood Cooke, who has worked with customers for 44 years, said he felt something special about Morales.
“We see a lot of people in need, but something about Annette just struck me,” he told News4Jax. “I told my son, ‘We’re going to do something for her.’”
Sherwood quietly started a GoFundMe fundraiser, explaining that Morales was “living paycheck to paycheck.”
“She needs a buffer. She needs to be able to pay her bills and get caught up,” he wrote on the page. “This woman hasn’t asked for ANYTHING! She is extremely humble and we want to help her out.”
On Aug. 22, the shop shared an update saying they had already reached their first goal and decided to raise it higher to give the family even more support.
“We’ve raised it to see if we can do life-changing stuff for this family,” Cooke wrote. “We are overwhelmed by the support and want to see if we can get her enough money to put a down payment on a house and get her out of the apartment that she struggles to pay rent on. We want to see if we can get her emergency savings. Y’all are literally changing this family’s life!!”
In a video that quickly went viral, Morales learns about the fundraiser. Sherwood tells her that the shop has a “big social media” following and that they had shared her story. He then shows her a piece of paper with the amount raised, and she immediately bursts into tears before hugging him.
“Thank you so much,” Morales says in the video. “You have been like a blessing.”
“It was meant to be,” Sherwood replies, holding back tears himself.
As of Friday, Aug. 29, the GoFundMe has raised more than $167,000.
