NewsLocal News

Actions

MEANT TO BE: Mechanic gives car to struggling Tulsa mom waiting for bus

mobile mechanic story
Posted
and last updated

TULSA, Okla. — Christina Webb was waiting for the bus with her little girl to get to her little brother's last football game.

That bus never came, and then she met Matthew Parker.

"If I didn’t miss my bus, I wouldn’t have been at that spot, which is so funny to me," said Webb. “He was basically asking me, you know, do you have a car, and I was like no, which is so funny because that’s what I was dwelling on. You know, being a mom, it was like it’s kind of hard to get around. It’s easy to take the bus, but it is a lot harder, you have to leave hours earlier so it was just perfect timing."

Watch the full video here

Parker is a mobile mechanic in Tulsa.

He told 2 News he tries to give back as much as possible and showcases neighborly love on social media.

“I feel like in my life I get put where I’m supposed to be every time at the moment I’m supposed to be there," he said. "I feel like I met her for a reason.”

Matt Parker

Parker and his wife were driving around, searching for someone to gift a vehicle to.

One of his clients wanted to get rid of their car, so he bought it with the intention of giving it to someone in need.

“Ultimately, what I try to show the world isn’t like the jobs that I have to vigorously do and get paid for, but the helpfulness of ‘here you go,’ you know what I mean? Here’s a gift, you don’t have to pay me nothing, and honestly it’s a blessing.”

It was a right place, right time kind of moment - for both of them.

Webb just moved back home from Florida. She struggled to find a way to survive after giving birth to her daughter.

"I was living outside in a tent in the woods, surviving, sleeping out of my car," she said. "I just remember those nights of being outside cold with my daughter, just to myself crying because, like, how did I get this low? She doesn’t deserve this."

She said she didn't want to rely on anyone, so she chose to go to a homeless shelter to get her life back on track. That's where she and her young daughter are now.

Parker and his family are no strangers to struggle either.

“We lived in a hotel for a couple weeks," he said. "Our first place was a little tiny trailer, it wasn’t fun but we made it work…. As soon as I started doing what I wanted to do and what I felt like I should do, it was just like a puzzle, you know what I mean, everything just got put back together.”

The mechanic said this is just the beginning for his business, and his new found friendship with Webb.

While it may seem like a car to some, those four wheels shifted the trajectory of Webb's life.

“In ways that he cannot even imagine, he has opened doors for me that I didn’t even see opening for me," she said. "Being that I have a car now, that opens me up to more jobs and opportunities.”

Once she gets settled, Webb wants to go to esthetician school.

Parker is hopeful he can pull off some Christmas magic and help her get her own home by the holidays.


Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --