A Georgia mom walked into an auto shop expecting to fix her car, and walked out with her life changed forever.
Annette Morales, a single mom of two from Camden County, recently brought her second-hand car to Royalty Auto Service after it kept giving her trouble. What she didn’t know was that the shop’s owner, Sherwood Cooke, had been quietly working on something far bigger than a car repair.
“We see a lot of people in need, but something about Annette just struck me,” Sherwood told News4Jax. “I told my son, ‘We’re going to do something for her.’ ”
That “something” turned out to be a secret GoFundMe, where Sherwood explained that Morales was “living paycheck to paycheck.” He wrote, “She needs a buffer. She needs to be able to pay her bills and get caught up. This woman hasn’t asked for ANYTHING! She is extremely humble and we want to help her out.”
And help, they did.
In just weeks, donations poured in, smashing through the shop’s original goal. “We’ve raised it to see if we can do life-changing stuff for this family,” Sherwood shared in an Aug. 22 update. “We are overwhelmed by the support and want to see if we can get her enough money to put a down payment on a house and get her out of the apartment that she struggles to pay rent on. We want to see if we can get her emergency savings. Y’all are literally changing this family’s life!!”
The reveal of the fundraiser has since gone viral. In the video, Sherwood tells Morales that the shop has a “big social media” following and that they “put out her story.” When he shows her the number on the paper, more than $165,000 raised, she instantly bursts into tears and hugs him tight.
“Thank you so much,” Morales says through sobs. “You have been like a blessing.”
Sherwood, also emotional, responds simply: “It was meant to be.”
As of Friday, Aug. 29, the GoFundMe had raised more than $167,000.
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