A life-changing moment for a Windsor family

Ifeome Ihedioha received a 2011 Jeep Compass through Lajeunesse High School’s Rebuilding Wheels Rebuilding Lives program on June 4, 2024. (Bob Bellacicco/CTV News Windsor)

What’s old is new again and will be a great help to Ifeome Ihedioha’s family.

“Helping my kids move around, attend programs, go for shopping, pick them up from school. It’s a lot. It’s a wonderful gift,” said a beaming Ihedioha.

One of 30 applicants for a vehicle through the Rebuilding Wheels Rebuilding Lives program, Ihedioha said she screamed when she was the picked.

The first thing on her list was to simply drive around and enjoy the freedom. Next, pick up her four children after school.

“Those are the moments that touch me because sometimes a student can work on a project, you do something and you don't really see the results,” said teacher/co-ordinator Shelley Ryan. “Their lives are so seriously changed, and the good that it throws out and the good that it creates. It's a phenomenal program.”

The program started in 2014 and over 500 students have worked on 17 vehicles that have been donated to families chosen through the United Way program.

“Think of us,” said Liam Giles-Hayes, VP of Programs. “If you have a car that can definitely be refurbished, we have great students here at Lajeunesse High School that can get it fixed and give it to a recipient in the community that really needs it.”

Karl Mroczkowski, who deals with students though his job at Centreline, donated the car.

“Many wonderful students have come through our doors,” Mroczkowski said. “I thought this would be the perfect thing to promote the skilled trades and if somebody gets a car at the end and the students learn to work on a car, it was a win all the way around.”

The donation turned into a great experience for Graziella Moceri, who was one of over twenty students to work on the 2011 Jeep Compass.

She and her schoolmate Cielle Levesque didn’t know the recipient until Tuesday and were thrilled to meet and hug Ihedioha after she was handed the keys.

“It was something that I'm going to hold close to my heart because it was it was so endearing to meet someone who was so sweet and who really just deserves a lovely car,” Moceri said.