When Otto Cadillac asked the community to help find a Colonie family that deserved to win a car, Mike Keane knew exactly who to nominate.
“I’ve known Joyce for the last few years because our kids attend the same school,” said Keane. “I made a suggestion that (the PTA) would all submit her because I think when there’s quantity that can sometimes help support the individual.”
Keane rallied about 100 nominations for Joyce C. Nichols, a single mother of third-grade twins who has been getting around by bus, taxi and rides from friends since her car broke down two years ago.
“She tries very hard to help those two have as much as they can but it’s a struggle,” said Keane.
Nichols said when she found out she was soon to be the owner of a 1997 Mitsubishi Montero, she was speechless.
“It means everything,” said Nichols. “I never thought it was possible.”
The only rule for the giveaway was that the family had to be from the Town of Colonie and have a demonstrated need for a car. The contest was flooded with so many entries for Nichols that the Central Avenue dealership couldn’t help but take notice of her story.
“[Nichols] has a strong impact and community ties and does a lot of volunteer work and we just felt as though her family would really benefit and was the type of person we were looking for to benefit from this giveaway,” said Amanda Dolan of Rebel Creative Marketing Concepts, the company that ran an extensive social media campaign for the giveaway.
Nichols’ story started two years ago when her car died and she couldn’t afford to get it fixed. Since then, she’s been forced to rely on rides from benevolent friends, expensive taxi trips and buses with schedules that didn’t always mesh with hers. With two young children, such unreliable transportation made for an even greater hardship.
“If my son was sick at school I had to walk down the street, get on the bus, go to his school and do the same thing on the way home,” said Nichols. “If I didn’t get a ride for doctor’s appointments I’d have to postpone it or take a cab, which his expensive.”
If the weather was bad, Nichols and her kids wouldn’t leave the house.
“I don’t want to drag them out in the rain and snow,” said Nichols.
Grocery shopping and laundry, tasks that are fairly simple for many families, were carefully orchestrated events.
“You can’t just get up and go. Sometimes it’s two weeks until I can get a ride,” said Nichols. “Now, I can just throw it in the car and go because if I haul things on the bus they look at you like you have 100 heads.”
She said even though she tried to get her kids to as many school and extracurricular functions as possible, it wasn’t always possible without her own car.
“It kind of limited them from stuff that they should do because of the weather. … There’s been a lot of activities not on a bus line we couldn’t go to,” said Nichols.
Even though friends frequently stepped up to lend a hand (and their cars), Nichols said she didn’t think she had enough friends to help her get the car Otto Cadillac was offering her. That’s because even after she was named the winner, the Otto Cadillac Facebook page had to reach 2,000 “likes” for her to get the keys.
“I didn’t think that would ever happen because I don’t know enough people,” said Nichols.
Turns out, she had nothing to worry about. In just three days, Otto’s Facebook page jumped from about 300 “likes” to more than 2,000.
“To realize 2,900 people took the time out of their day to click and share and pass it on, I don’t even know what to say,” said Nichols.
People from as far as North Carolina clicked “like” to help out Nichols, a total stranger. That giving spirit, especially during the holidays, is what means even more than the car, said Nichols.
“The bigger picture is how much love and support I’ve gotten from everyone. That’s the real gift,” said Nichols. “Every time I get into the vehicle I’ll think of how I got it and all those people who care.”
The community coming together to help one of their own is exactly what Chris Otto, general manager of Otto Cadillac, had in mind when he launched the contest.
“With the holidays approaching, we wanted to donate a gift to an area family that would truly have an impact on their daily lives,” said Otto. “We were confident this campaign would be successful but it truly makes me proud to be part of the Colonie community. The feedback from everyone has been incredible.”
After seeing the rapid response on Facebook, Otto decided to throw in another surprise and announced the dealership would take care of Nichols’ plates and registration fees if the page reached 3,000 “likes.”
It did.