The owners of Buckhaven Construction have raised more than $2,500 to buy a van with a wheelchair lift for a Clayton County couple that had one stolen more than a week ago.
"It's crazy, just in the last 10-15 minutes, people have been calling, e-mailing," Jared Levitt, a co-owner of Buckhaven Construction, said after the story aired on WSB-TV Thursday.
Alfred and Christine Kenney had their 1988 Chevrolet van stolen from their Riverdale home nearly a week ago. It had a wheelchair lift that the 79-year-old man said he needs to take his wife to doctor’s appointments.
Christine Kenney was severely injured in a car accident that happened over Labor Day weekend in 1988, Kenney said. The accident left her severely brain damaged, he said.
Levitt told the AJC that Buckhaven's co-owner Lester Neely saw the Kenney's story on the news and wanted to do something. Neely was immobile for six months after a motorcycle accident in 1996, Levitt said. He had to get used to others helping him out, taking him to doctor's appointments and could empathize with the Kenney's, Levitt said.
The company put up $1,500 on Thursday and got another $1,000 from two clients, Levitt said.
Late Thursday afternoon, Levitt said so many people had called, he thinks the donations have reached $3,500. He's trying to raise $5,200 to buy a van in Duluth.
"We're trying to get up to that, and then we'll deliver," he said.
Kenney said he went to bed last Friday night, and when he woke up, the van was missing from the carport of the couple’s Pine View Terrace home.
“It was just a funny feeling, sure enough, seeing my van gone,” Kenny told the AJC. “I didn’t know what to think.”
Kenney said he bought the van in 1999. He doesn’t have the money to buy a new one.
He’s angry, and he’s just waiting and hoping the police will find it.
“It’s awful,” he said.
The Kenneys may get some help from perfect strangers.
Others had contacted the AJC wondering how they can assist the couple.
“I just can’t think of anything that I’d rather do than try and help someone,” said Martha Meens, owner of Magnolia Transportation Inc. in Warner Robbins. “Our business was started for that reason.”
Magnolia has transportation service for the handicapped and seniors, Meens said.
Meens said the company has a 1999 Ford van. She said it’s not running, however.
“We thought about researching to see if there’s a mechanic in that area and a parts store that would donate parts,” she told the AJC.
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