Strangers step in to help woman struggling to pay car repair bill

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — A Georgia woman got an unexpected surprise last week at a Coweta County car dealership. She couldn’t afford her car repair bill, so strangers stepped in to help.

Last week, Rachell Tucker and Sarah Najour were complete strangers, but now the women share a bond and a story neither will ever forget.

“There’s still good people in the world,” Tucker said.

When Tucker walked into the Mike Fitzpatrick Ford dealership in Newnan last week, she found out it would cost more than $800 to fix her car – money she didn’t have.

“She walked out in tears,” said Najour, who works at the dealership. “It broke my heart when I saw her go to her car and start getting her stuff.”

“I was going to have to leave the car there until I could come up with the money and something just came over me and I broke down crying,” Tucker said.

Tucker went home. She had no clue that Najour had spotted her tears and come up with a plan to make her Christmas a bit brighter.

“I just instantly thought, ‘Hey, why don’t I post this on Facebook?’” Najour said.

So she did just that.

“If I could just snag your attention please," she wrote. "I’m at work and there is a customer who has literally left in tears because she is having to leave her car behind. She is unable to pay the $800 it costs to repair her car. So I’m asking Facebook for help. If I could have 800 people which I know I have over that many on my Facebook, can 800 people send me $1 so we can get this woman’s car fixed. It broke my heart watching her clean her car out knowing she wouldn’t be leaving with it. Just trying to do something nice & help someone out who desperately needs it."

Within two hours, Najour had raised a little more than $1,000. She was also able to use her employee discount to get the repair costs cut in half.

The next day, Najour gave the remaining funds -- more than $500 -- to Tucker as a gift for her and her four children.

“She didn’t know me," Tucker said. "She didn’t know what else I had been going through."

In August, Tucker’s house in LaGrange caught fire. They lived in a hotel for a bit before finding a new place in Newnan. She now commutes to and from LaGrange for work, so her car means putting food on the table.

“I have a habit of treating people how I want to be treated and it will come back around in the end,” Tucker said.

The women told WSB-TV they plan to stay in touch and hope their story inspires others to pay it forward.

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