Kansas City, Mo ? The wheels of generosity churned Wednesday at Union Station.

Single mother Tareena Evans and teenager Josh Foster, both of Lawrence, were among dozens of people who celebrated Christmas a day early at the historic railroad depot, compliments of the Cars 4 Christmas charity.

Evans, the mother of four children under age 9, including two with disabilities, received a donated Ford van to replace her broken-down car. Foster, a junior at Lawrence High School, took ownership of a donated electric wheelchair to replace his manual chair.

“I’ve entered myself in drawings before and nothing ever happens,” Evans said. “I couldn’t do anything but cry.”

Employees of the Lawrence school district set the wheels in motion by applying to Cars 4 Christmas on behalf of Evans and Foster.

The charitable organization was started eight years ago by Terry Franz, who estimates that he has coordinated distribution of about 400 vehicles to people desperate for reliable transportation. Wednesday, Cars 4 Christmas used Union Station as a backdrop to present the keys to more than 50 cars donated by car dealerships and individuals.

Evans immediately put her newly acquired blue 1995 Ford Windstar to good use by hauling Foster’s wheelchair back to Lawrence.

Greater independence

Foster, who has Becker’s muscular dystrophy and is limited to walking short distances, depends on a wheelchair because the disorder has weakened muscles in his legs, pelvis and upper body.

Josh Foster, a junior at Lawrence High School, took ownership of a donated electric wheelchair to replace his manual chair, compliments of the Cars 4 Christmas charity. Single mother Tareena Evans, Lawrence, also was helped by the charity: She received a van Wednesday at Union Station in Kansas City, Mo.

Kelley Foster, Josh’s mother, said her son typically needed help rolling his manually operated wheelchair.

“He’s excited about the chair,” Kelley Foster said. “He’s a teenage boy. He doesn’t want his mom pushing him everywhere.”

Megan Rierson, a physical therapist for the Lawrence school district, said she sought help for Foster from Cars 4 Christmas. Motorized wheelchairs can cost $5,000 to $10,000, which is more than the Fosters could afford right now.

“It’s going to increase his independence by leaps,” Rierson said. “It’s such a blessing.”

Sandra Davalos, an early childhood education teacher in the school district, sent a nomination letter to Franz after learning that Evans’ car broke down on her way home from nursing school in November.

Evans, who also works full-time in Lawrence, couldn’t afford repairs to the vehicle.

“I’ve always known her to be a parent who has multiple jobs, always goes out of her way to try to find her own resources and keep things going on her own. I’ve never known her to complain,” Davalos said.

Two of Evans’ children, Cameron, 5, and Joshua, 3, have disabilities. Cameron is blind and has a seizure disorder. Joshua has Roberts’ syndrome, a form of dwarfism.

Loss of the family car forced Evans to take a leave of absence from nursing school and made it more challenging to get to work and doctor appointments. Lack of a vehicle became a more serious matter when Cameron developed an infection at Thanksgiving that required surgery in Wichita.

6News video: Josh Foster receives early Christmas gift

“That set a whole new set of dominoes into effect in terms of what to do with the other kids,” Davalos said. “She had to borrow a car from her parents. It was an unsafe situation for her not to be able to be mobile and get the kids where they needed to go.”

Transportation help

Franz said he founded Cars 4 Christmas in 1996 to help people like Evans. At that time, he said, there seemed to be a network of charity organizations capable of helping people get food, housing or employment aid.

“Nobody provided transportation, and a lot of these people can help themselves if they can get from point A to point B,” Franz said.

Franz, who has worked in the automobile business for about 25 years, leaned on some of his friends and associates. The first year, the organization gave away six donated cars.

More than 50 were distributed this year at Union Station, and more were delivered earlier.

The Missouri and Kansas safety councils provided car seats for families with children. Highway patrol troopers helped to install the seats in recipients’ vehicles.

To get vehicles roadworthy, auto and body shops donated labor on repairs. Auto parts suppliers chipped in. Gifts from tire and windshield companies came in handy. Stations donated gasoline for cars.

“This is my eighth year of doing it,” Franz said. “It started as a little thing with a few people, but hundreds have joined it. It’s all grass roots. There’s no corporate sponsors. We’ve got no government grants. We’re totally people helping people.”

He said a goal for next year would be to expand the program into Omaha, Neb., and St. Louis. The need exists far beyond these Midwest cities, he said.

“I get letters from all over the nation,” Franz said. “Thousands of letters a year.”