A single mother of four in Cincinnati who lost clients and income after her car broke down is now driving a fully repaired 2017 Kia Niro, courtesy of a local auto shop's annual giveaway program. Jasmin Hughley works as a State Tested Nursing Assistant in home healthcare, and for weeks she leaned on buses, rideshares and help from others just to reach her clients after her previous vehicle suffered a blown head gasket.
Donovan's Auto & Tire Center selected Hughley for its annual CARes vehicle giveaway, presenting her with the hybrid Niro, which has roughly 90,000 miles and was inspected and repaired by the shop before the handoff, according to FOX19. Co-owner Dane Donovan said Hughley had been relying on Uber to get to appointments before the donation. Hughley was nominated by her mother, her employer, a neighbor and a friend, and the program received more than 150 nominations this year before narrowing the field and opening it up to 450 public votes.
A Selection Process Built Around Hardship
The 2026 CARes giveaway followed a set community timeline: nominations ran from July 27 through August 9, five finalists were chosen on August 10 and 11, and the public voted from August 12 through August 18 before Hughley's name was announced August 25, according to Donovan's Auto and Tire Center. Other finalists competing for the same 2017 Kia Niro included a mother of five whose car was totaled in a police chase collision and a single mother of two whose vehicle caught fire, leaving her stuck on a multi-bus commute to reach her night-shift job.
Hughley, who has also overcome homelessness to secure a home for her family, said the donated car means a great deal to her and her children. She works in home healthcare while planning to eventually attend nursing school, a career path that already required her to complete state-mandated training. Ohio requires STNAs and home health aides to complete at least 75 hours of state-approved instruction, covering hands-on caregiving, basic medical skills and first aid, before they can work for Medicare- or Medicaid-certified home health agencies, according to Dreambound.
Low Wages, High Stakes When a Car Fails
The financial stakes of losing a vehicle are steep for workers like Hughley. Home health aides in Ohio earned a median wage of $34,460 a year, or $16.44 an hour, according to 2026 Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled by allnurses, even as demand for the work is projected to grow more than 20% nationally over the decade. Vehicle expenses represent the second-largest financial burden for U.S. households after housing, a strain that hits especially hard for lower-wage essential workers whose jobs require reaching clients in areas not well served by public transit, per research published in MDPI.
A Family Business With Deep Cincinnati Roots
Donovan's Auto & Tire Center launched the CARes program in 2025, first promoting the effort during an August 2025 interview with co-owner Dane Donovan on Cincinnati radio station 55KRC, per iHeartMedia. The shop was founded in 1958 by Don Donovan on Montgomery Road and has since grown under third-generation family ownership into service centers in Pleasant Ridge and Blue Ash. Dale and Dane Donovan also co-host a weekly call-in advice show, The Car Show with Dale and Dane Donovan, airing Saturdays from 1 to 2 p.m. on 55KRC, according to a listing on Apple Podcasts.
The CARes giveaway sits alongside other local philanthropic ties for the shop, which sponsors organizations including the Karen Wellington Foundation, which supports women living with breast cancer, along with the Jeffrey G. Hoeh Golf Memorial and Payton's Lemonade Stand. Donovan's Auto and Tire Center says it plans to give away another vehicle through the CARes program in 2027, continuing its stated mission of providing reliable transportation to local families facing hardship.
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