Fort Worth

13-Year-Old Starts Donation Campaign to Help Family With Special Needs Get New Car

Joy Dunlap said she is a 'glass-half-full' kind of person. It's served her well. The Fort Worth mother and wife is the single bread-winner for her family, which includes a disabled daughter and husband who is on disability. 

"There's always someone in a worse spot than you are," said Dunlap. That wasn't the case on Friday, when Dunlap was gifted a Chevy Equinox, paid for by donations.

"So my dad told me you got your license not too long ago, but didn't always have a way to get around," 13-year old Emily Steuart told Dunlap, who works with Steuart's father at a trucking company. 

13-year-old Steuart took it upon herself to start a GoFundMe campaign to help Dunlap get a reliable car. She raised more than $3,000 and a dealership in Tyler matched the donation to help purchase the vehicle. On Friday, Steuart and her family delivered the surprise to Dunlap and her husband.

"Makes you feel you're doing something right as a parent," Chris Steuart said of his daughter's efforts. "Everybody faces hurdles in life. Sometimes people just need a little extra help getting over them."

"I appreciate it so much," said Joy's husband, Terry Dunlap, through tears. "I just feel like I haven't been able to do for my family since I've had a heart attack and strokes."

Dunlap had been driving a car without air conditioning, that required more work than the car was worth. She sometimes had to rely on others for rides to work and the doctor's office.

"Don't ever take it for granted that when there's bad times, there's not someone out there that cares," Joy Dunlap said. 

"No matter how big or little, whatever you do it can always help someone, no matter what it is," said Emily Steuart. "It makes me really happy to see her happy."

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