Smile

Restaurant owner fixes old cars and donates them to people in need

Published

4 years ago

July 19, 2021

When a South Carolina mechanic was featured by CBS Evening News a few weeks ago, the viewers’ response was remarkable.
Eliot Middleton fixes old cars and then donates them to rural families who need a ride.
After seeing the show, hundreds contacted Eliot to offer cash donations donations including more than 800 cars.

A few weeks ago, the CBS Evening News featured a rural South Carolina man who is transforming lives by repairing broken cars and giving them away for free.

Where Eliot Middleton lives, there’s no public transportation, no Ubers or taxis. So, if you don’t have a car, there are few options for those with kids or physical conditions.

Eliot, who owns a barbecue restaurant, is also a trained mechanic who rehabs donated cars in his spare time. Before the CBS report, he had gifted 32 cars to rural families since last September.

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But, after the report aired on nationwide TV, Eliot received an explosion of donations including more than 800 cars.

A flood of cash also poured in to his Gofundme page—$129,000—and he has thousands of notes from folks offering their help and services to assist his mission. Someone even donated a flatbed truck to help him move all these cars from all over the country.

“My phone started exploding from all over the place,” he told CBS reporter Mark Strassmann from his home in Awendaw.

Eliot’s sister is helping organize the overwhelming response, also pouring in through Eliot’s Facebook page, Middleton’s Village To Village Foundation.

“Whatever glowing feeling is inside me, it just transferred from that TV screen and went inside them,” he said. “It’s soul-soothing.”

Some of the recipients of the fixed cars are single moms, jobs seekers and older folks with doctor’s appointments. Last Christmas, he gave a 2004 Suzuki to single mom Jessica Litchfield — who described his work as “a lifesaver.”

Source: Good News Network