St Josephs Mobile Workshop has been a very long time in the making....let me explain...

Let's go back to the beginning...

I grew up in a typical WWII household where we had a "split" family. Three siblings who were out of the house by the time my nearest two siblings and I were growing up. I spent most of my time working around our house and yard learning from my dad how to do just about any repair or remodel you can imagine and tinkering with just about anything I could find to take apart to put back together again.

Jumping ahead years, I carried this way of life into my own marriage and family partly due to the joy in the work but also through the necessity of finances with a 9 children and one income household. What I didn't learn how to do from my dad, I learned from friends, family, neighbors and eventually the internet.

About 5 years ago, there were several things that took place that really planted the "seed" in my heart for this ministry. A family we knew had the door of their aging Honda minivan literally fall off after church one day. The repair cost at a dealership was over $500 per door! The local garage quoted, if I recall correctly, around $375 to $400 per door. This was obviously an unintended and burdensome expense for this family. I fixed both doors in one afternoon for less than 1/4 of what it would have cost them at the dealership.

Around the same time I experienced a breakdown of our dryer. Having never taken one apart and the fact that we have a gas dryer, I decided to call a repair tech. A $95 diagnostic fee 2 days later and I got the news: I'll need a $65 dollar part that will take at least a couple days to get and another visit with a repair fee of around $200 + the part. Good news is the diagnostic fee will be deducted from the repair fee. Well what could I do? I needed the dryer AND it was still less than the cost of a new one so I booked the appointment AND THEN.....I did some research. The part was a very common problem in my make and model. I found a used comparable part at a local store and $8 later I've got something that will work for me. The next afternoon at a total cost of a little over $100, less than 1/2 of what it could have cost me and I have a dryer that has still been working since that day.

Some time after this, the Lord started nudging me about this idea for starting a non-profit and admitedly, I had to get over myself and let go of control of what this ministry is or is meant to be. When I finally humbled myself to His Will, the pieces started falling into place! God is a good good Father! All for Jesus, All through Mary, All in union with St Joseph!

St Joseph's Mobile Workshop is a non-profit ministry dedicated to improving the quality of life for lower income families and older adults living on a fixed income that would find it excessively burdensome or impossible to pay for traditional home or vehicle repairs.

The objective is to serve those in need through referrals from our local Catholic Churches and other Christian charities with the types of repairs that are necessary and improve the quality of life for the clients being served. Clients would be expected to pay for the parts and supplies necessary to perform the service and make a free will offering to support the ongoing efforts of the ministry. There would be no bill for labor. When possible and after a demonstrated need, even the cost of parts might get covered by the ministry.