美国国家公共电台 NPR Lots Of People Donate Their Cars, But This Owner Donated His Auto Repair Shop

 

LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

In Baltimore, an auto¹ mechanic named Jerry Greeff wanted to offload his business so he could retire. Instead of selling it to another mechanic, he donated his auto body shop to an organization that needed not only the cars but the work that goes with them. From member station WYPR, reporter Mary Rose Madden has the story.

MARY ROSE MADDEN, BYLINE²: Down on Greenmount Avenue, across from a hair-braiding salon³ and a crab⁴ shack⁵, the lights for the One Stop auto shop are flashing around the clock, much like shop owner Jerry Greeff's work ethic⁶.

JERRY GREEFF: OK. Yeah, sir. I've got that quote for you. It's $26.99.

MADDEN: Greeff's putting in his last days after more than 40 years. And he's done quite well. In 2016, they did $2.5 million in sales. But he's been working long days for a long time.

GREEFF: If a customer doesn't have their car, I mean, I feel bad for them. They need their car.

MADDEN: So he and his employees would work late. Greeff knows what a difference having a car can make in getting to work, getting kids to daycare. He and his wife, Pam, have three grown kids of their own. But the time away was really getting to her.

GREEFF: My wife had given me an ultimatum⁷. She said it was her or the business. It was a very close call, I got to tell you. But she eked⁸ it out.

MADDEN: OK. Well, when was your last vacation?

GREEFF: Other than weekend vacations, probably 10 years.

MADDEN: Pam was starting to travel solo. So they tried selling the One Stop auto shop but couldn't find a buyer who would run it.

GREEFF: We didn't want to close. We didn't want the employees to lose their jobs. We didn't want the community to lose it.

MADDEN: Then the Greeffs had an idea. In the past, they donated a few of their old cars to a local nonprofit specializing in auto mechanics. Why not donate the business? Vehicles For Change is a nonprofit that fixes up donated cars while teaching ex-offenders auto repair. They sell the cars at low cost to families considered working poor.

The ex-offenders earn their mechanic's certificate. They're placed in a job, and Vehicles For Change sells them a car at low cost to get to that new job. Marty Schwartz is the president of Vehicles For Change. He says when the Greeffs donated their $2.5 million business, it was simply unbelievable.

MARTY SCHWARTZ: I mean, it's amazing. I mean, it's a miracle.

MADDEN: And the benefits for the ex-offenders he trains are going to be plentiful⁹.

SCHWARTZ: These are guys who have been to prison. They don't want to go back to prison. They don't want to go back to the life that they were in. They just need an opportunity.

MADDEN: In Maryland, 40 percent of ex-offenders who were released from prison in 2009 were back in prison by 2012. Getting a job is crucial to staying out of prison. But those opportunities are rare.

NICK KUESPERT: I've been working on cars all my life. I'm just an old redneck. I love cars. That's why I'm here.

MADDEN: Forty-four-year-old Nick Kuespert is finishing up his training in the Vehicles For Change auto shop. Kuespert grew up in Jackson, Miss., where his dad was addicted¹¹ to drugs. And the chaotic¹² environment rubbed off on him.

KUESPERT: I didn't go to high school. I dropped out in eighth grade because, when I was in my teens, I was a hardcore addict¹⁰.

MADDEN: But he bounced back and started a small construction business.

KUESPERT: Then when I was about 31, I relapsed. And my wife and my kids - so relapsed and ended up, you know, doing some robberies, got caught and went to prison.

MADDEN: Kuespert was 34 years old when he went to prison.

KUESPERT: Since I've been out, I've been doing a lot better. I feel like I'm worth something because I show up, and I help people. I fix cars for people that need cars. And I like that.

MADDEN: And that's the legacy¹³ the Greeffs want to leave behind. Jerry Greeff says when he hands over the keys to the One Stop auto shop, he won't be able to stay away for long. For NPR News, I'm Mary Rose Madden in Baltimore.

1 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 salon   

n.[法]沙龙；客厅；营业性的高级服务室

参考例句：

• Do you go to the hairdresser or beauty salon more than twice a week?你每周去美容院或美容沙龙多过两次吗？
• You can hear a lot of dirt at a salon.你在沙龙上会听到很多流言蜚语。

4 crab   

n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气

参考例句：

• I can't remember when I last had crab.我不记得上次吃蟹是什么时候了。
• The skin on my face felt as hard as a crab's back.我脸上的皮仿佛僵硬了，就象螃蟹的壳似的。

5 shack   

adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚

参考例句：

• He had to sit down five times before he reached his shack.在走到他的茅棚以前，他不得不坐在地上歇了五次。
• The boys made a shack out of the old boards in the backyard.男孩们在后院用旧木板盖起一间小木屋。

6 ethic   

n.道德标准，行为准则

参考例句：

• They instilled the work ethic into their children.他们在孩子们的心中注入了职业道德的理念。
• The connotation of education ethic is rooted in human nature's mobility.教育伦理的内涵根源于人本性的变动性。

7 ultimatum   

n.最后通牒

参考例句：

• This time the proposal was couched as an ultimatum.这一次该提议是以最后通牒的形式提出来的。
• The cabinet met today to discuss how to respond to the ultimatum.内阁今天开会商量如何应对这道最后通牒。

8 eked   

v.（靠节省用量）使…的供应持久( eke的过去式和过去分词 )；节约使用；竭力维持生计；勉强度日

参考例句：

• She eked out the stew to make another meal. 她省出一些钝菜再做一顿饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She eked out her small income by washing clothes for other people. 她替人洗衣以贴补微薄的收入。 来自辞典例句

9 plentiful   

adj.富裕的，丰富的

参考例句：

• Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
• Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。

10 addict   

v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人

参考例句：

• He became gambling addict,and lost all his possessions.他习染上了赌博，最终输掉了全部家产。
• He assisted a drug addict to escape from drug but failed firstly.一开始他帮助一个吸毒者戒毒但失败了。

11 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。

12 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

13 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。