Raleigh auto shop rewards hard-luck teen with car

Trevor Baldwin, 18, recently wrecked his car, which he had worked last summer to purchase. Without it, he would have a hard time visiting his two little sisters. All three have been placed into separate foster homes.

"Our foster mom has eight kids, so needing a ride is sort of first come, first serve," Baldwin said Friday.

His teammates on the Wake Forest High School wrestling team set up a GoFundMe page to help him raise some money to buy a new car, which is how Adam and Jessica Edwards learned of his plight.

The Edwardses try to do something good each year around the anniversary of the death of Adam Edwards' brother, Jason, who died in a freak accident during a camping trip.

"I just really felt that, at this time, that this young man who had been through so much just needed a break," Jessica Edwards said.

The couple owns On-Site Automotive on East Millbrook Road, and one of their customers recently gave them a Suzuki sedan to dispose of.

"We did not know what we were going to do with that car, so we had discussed fixing this car and giving that car to Trevor," Jessica Edwards said.

On-Site Automotive mechanics and CarQuest put about $3,000 worth of parts and labor into the car.

Baldwin, who graduates from Wake Forest High on Saturday, was stunned when the couple handed him the keys to the car on Thursday.

"I couldn't put into words how I felt," he said. "I was very emotional. I did not expect it at all."

The Wake County Public School System has named him the "Senior Success Story of 2016" for raising his grades from a C- average to straight A's in the year and a half that he's been in foster care.

Baldwin said he plans to use his new car to go to work and attend classes at Wake Technical Community College next year.

"In a world where there are so many bad things going on, for us, it is such a blessing to pay it forward and give to those that may not even know that you are trying to bless them with something, but just to lift the weight off of somebody's shoulders in a way that we did," Jessica Edwards said.