MarvelTheatreChick

The coolant leak is really what is making the car undrivable. No Coolant = Overheating Engine = Blown Head Gasket = I'd need a new engine or a new car. 💀 I trust my mechanic (he is a neighbor of my Dad's Bishop's 1st Counselor) and has fairly reasonable prices... He fixed a gas line on the van when we had a gas leak for $150. He also replaced the radiator & thermostat for $500 when Meineke wanted $1200. Honestly the most expensive thing to fix is the heater core... The parts are only $80 but the labor for that is $500. I live in AZ but the winters can get cold enough to put ice on the windshield sometimes. I've had to buy a cover to put over the windshield at night to keep the ice off but then the windshield still gets foggy and without a working heater, I have no way to clear the windshield of fog except to run my windshield wipers which kind of sort of works enough that I can see to drive but I have to keep running the wipers every few minutes because it will just fog up again... Also it's not super great to have to drive bundled up like I'm in the Alaskan Tundra 🤣 and also in the Summer, not having a working AC sucks when it's over 100°F (there is no airflow at all for either the heater or AC) Brakes & Discs are $460 ($230 for front & $230 for rear, parts & labor) The coolant leak is just $80 for parts (I think labor is waived because that is under the warranty from when he replaced the radiator last spring) The cable for the hood latch is $60 for parts, $120 for labor (so $180 total) And unfortunately all that equals out to $1300... It adds up fast...

So I have used the church welfare assistance when it comes to a Bishop's Food Order many times, and have also gotten assistance from the bishop with paying our electric bill... but I am wondering if a Bishop has the ability to help pay for car repairs? I have a 2002 Chrysler Voyager mini-van that I use to get to and from work (I use a mobility scooter and my van has the ability to transport my scooter to and from work) however recently I noticed several issues with the van... It has a slow coolant leak, front & rear brakes (discs included) need to be replaced, the cable for the hood latch needs to be replaced (so that I can actually open the hood to check fluid levels lol), and the heater core needs to be replaces so I can actually have a working heater again... especially since it's winter at the moment and 40°F or less when I leave for work in the morning... I had my van towed to my mechanic to inspect/diagnose the issues and give me a quote for how much to fix everything I listed above... grand total is $1300. I don't have that much at the moment so I had to go by bus with my mobility scooter and pick up the van and drive it home (luckily it didn't overheat while driving the short distance home). I think I can come up with a good chunk of the $1300 with my tax returns once I get my W2s at the end of the month so I can file my taxes... I'm wondering if it would be worth asking my Bishop if the church could help pay some of that $1300 so my van is drivable again (once I get my tax returns back so I know how much of the $1300 I can come up with and how much help I'll need from the church)?