Local business driven to help a family in need

When a family was in need of help to make frequent trips to Primary Children’s Medical Center to receive necessary medical treatment for their children, they traveled to Sandy and drove away with a new-to-them vehicle fully equipped with safety car seats.

A newly restored Kia Sorento SUV was donated to the Rivera family through a partnership between local business ABRA Auto Body and Glass, Safe Kids Utah and Primary Children’s Hospital.

Safe Kids Utah Injury Prevention Program spokesperson Christi Fisher said the family needed the help due to unfortunate circumstances that made the trips a difficult ordeal.

“They usually take public transportation. It was a hardship,” she said.

The family of five, including three children under the age of 6, has only lived in Utah in the West Valley area for about a year. Two of the three children have spina bifida, a birth defect that can cause the spine not to form properly.

Due to their children’s medical condition, the family has had to make frequent trips across the Salt Lake Valley to Primary Children’s Medical Center to visit doctors and receive treatment.

Before they received the Kia SUV, the family didn’t have a vehicle. In order to travel to the hospital, mother Inelise would often walk with her children Adrian, Yeiliz and Yahmai, and use public transportation to make the trip.

With three children, the half-mile walk to a TRAX Station or a bus stop was challenging for the mother, who had to carry a 7-month-old infant while pushing her 2-year-old in a stroller and watching the oldest, a 5-year old child.

Social workers at Primary Children’s recognized that the family was in need and recommended that they receive the new vehicle donated by ABRA.

The local Sandy area business is part of a larger chain of auto collision repair shops located in 12 states nationwide. ABRA repairs wrecked or damaged vehicles.

The local business restored a vehicle that had been totaled in a previous wreck to get it ready for the family.

“[Preparing the car for the family] was a good way to connect with the community,” ABRA Auto Body and Glass Account Executive Shannon Ellis said.

Liberty Mutual Insurance provided the financial backing to purchase and insure the donated SUV.

Christopher KIA car dealership in Sandy donated the tires and Advanced Auto Detail refurbished the interior.

In addition, Safe Kids Utah donated and installed new car seats for each of the children to ride in.

Fisher said Safe Kids Utah got involved to help because the mission of the nonprofit organization is to protect children from avoidable injury.

She said car seats are an important way to protect children and remind people who hear the story to buckle up their kids.

Fisher also said it was wonderful to be able to help the family, who expressed so much appreciation for the life-changing gift.

“The family was so grateful,” she said.