Christmas was shaping up to be heartbreaking for Melanie Lee. A few weeks earlier; her 33-year-old son had 1 his battle with a long illness. Then the engine on her old car 2working. She had no means of paying for it to be fixed.
"When it 3 , I broke down, " Lee said. "Now I don't have my 4 now I don't have transportation. How am I supposed to stay 5 in my grandchildren's lives?"
Eliot Middleton, 38, the owner of a barbecue restaurant and former auto mechanic who, in his free time, 6 and gives away used cars. He'd heard about Lee's difficult 7 from her nephew. On Christmas morning, Middleton showed up unannounced at Lee's home with a(n) 8 : a white 1933 Oldsmobile.
"I had no idea what was going on, " said Lee. "he 9 me the keys and didn't ask for anything? Once again, she's able to 10 her granddaughters from school and take them to dance classes. T got my 11 back. "
The 12 for the used-car giveaway came to Middleton a year earlier during a 13 drive he'd organized. Many of those who5d lined up for a meal 14 up to four miles to get there because they didn't have cars.
15 are lifeline in this part of South Carolina, Middleton said. There' no public 16, no Ubers, no taxis to take people to doctor appointments, even food shopping. So he 17 on Facebook an offer to trade his restaurant's specialty for broken-down 18 Since then, people have dropped off more than 100 cars in 19 states of disrepair. Many cars sit in Middleton's yard waiting to be fixed and 20usually to those he's heard about through word of mouth. It's a list of names that grows daily.
"People think Eliot is an angel, " Lee's nephew said, "And I do too?"
