With four adopted children and five foster children, the Young family of Dade City, Florida, has more mouths to feed than most. Transporting a brood of nine around town for medical visits, school and extracurricular activities is also not a simple task. While opening their hearts and their home to nine children certainly has its rewards, it hasn’t been financially easy for this family. By Rochelle Miller

With four adopted children and five foster children, the Young family of Dade City, Florida, has more mouths to feed than most. Transporting a brood of nine around town for medical visits, school and extracurricular activities is also not a simple task. While opening their hearts and their home to nine children, ages 2 to 12, certainly has its rewards, it hasn’t been financially easy for this family.

To ease that burden, the Youngs were visited this holiday season by a generous man bearing gifts. No, it wasn’t Santa Claus – but Adam Ford, franchise owner of two Midas locations in nearby St. Petersburg, Florida.

Ford and his crew visited the Young family at their home on December 7 to deliver a huge surprise. The franchise owner gifted the Youngs a 12-seater van (refurbished courtesy of Midas, of course). The white van can now transport the entire family of 11 in style and comfort.

While gifting a vehicle is certainly a generous gesture, Ford didn’t stop there. He then turned to the community, asking for toys, gift cards and monetary donations to fill the van with holiday gifts for the children. Appealing to his customers to “help us stuff the bus,” Ford gave free oil changes to anyone who gave a donation.

“The community came out in droves to help this family,” explained company spokeswoman Wendy J. Gordon. “There are angels among us.”

With more than 2000 locations worldwide that are locally-owned, independent franchises, Midas is a leading provider of automotive repair services that has been in the car care industry for more than six decades.

For more information regarding franchising opportunities with Midas, visit midasfranchise.com.

– Rochelle Miller