West Suburban Bureau

Vandals Destroy Cars At Suburban Church

Cars Were Intended To Be Given To Single Mothers

MEDINAH, Ill. (CBS) ― Vandals have hit a northwest suburban church, and the victims are single mothers. The windows of several used cars meant to be donated to single mothers as part of a church ministry program were smashed at Medinah Baptist Church.

CBS 2 West Suburban Bureau Chief Mike Puccinelli reports the program could be stalled.

Dean Scott, the church's program director, saw the parking lot of the Medinah Baptist Church earlier this month after vandals struck, targeting five vehicles that had just been donated to the church.

"It was a sea of glass," Scott said. "There was glass everywhere."

Medinah Baptist officials say the vandalism caused so much damage that none of the cars will be repaired. And now the future of the church's entire car ministry program is in flux.

Scott said a decision has been made to dramatically scale down the program.

The culprits used stones and bricks to bash in the windows of a Pontiac Bonneville, a Dodge Caravan and three other vehicles. When they smashed all that glass, they also shattered Erin Zwirlein's dream of getting a free car.

This M.S. patient was on the wait list of Medinah Baptist's Car Ministry which repairs and ultimately donates used vehicles to needy single moms. Now the cars are headed to salvage and Erin and her daughter are out of luck. That left her with this question for the vandals.

"What enjoyment did you get out of it?" asked Zwirlein, single mom. "Are you going to carry this enjoyment out of this your whole entire life and get fun out of it every time you think about it when other people are suffering?"

Vandals also targeted a nearby garage breaking out one of the windows. It is in this garage where they've repaired dozens of cars over the past four years.

Nicole Taylor received one of those cars after church volunteers fixed it up. She said the gift transformed her life during one of her lowest points.

"I had fallen apart at my house and fell to my knees praying to the Lord that I needed help, that I needed a car so I could get my kids to the doctor and get formula, and two days later, did they not call me up and tell me they had a car for me? I thought that was a complete miracle," said Taylor, single mom.

Now she fears that other women desperate for a similar miracle will be forced to go without during their time of need.

If you would like to donate a car to the church, please call 630-980-9421.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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