More businesses pitch in to help teen with vandalized car
By Rosemary McCoy
Several other businesses have offered their help to a Sioux Falls teen whose car was vandalized.
Matt Juhl of Mark Juhl Auto Sports & Service Center reached out first to Ezra Hall after seeing a Facebook post about the car, which was spray painted with obscenities and damaged with paint stripper on the weekend.
Here’s a look at Ezra Hall’s car after Mark Juhl Auto Sports & Service Center removed the spray-painted obscenities.
Juhl was able to remove the spray paint Monday, but the paint stripper left bare metal exposed.
O’Reilly Auto Parts has offered to provide the painting supplies needed to repair the damage to the car, and Integrity Auto Body in Tea is willing to do the work at a discount, Juhl said.
The 2010 Chevy Impala was missing the driver’s side rear mirror before the vandalism, and Nordstrom’s Automotive of rural Garretson will replace it.
“I talked to Ezra, and he was very moved” by the generosity, Juhl said.
Hall is a senior at New Tech High School, and the car was his aunt’s before she died. He said the car holds sentimental value.
He may have to leave it as is, however.
“I’m not sure if I can really afford to go ahead with the paint job,” Hall said.
But he’s happy that Juhl has saved him from driving around in an R-rated car and he’s thankful for the support he has received from the business community, friends and strangers.
UPDATE, MAY 23: Hall has started a GoFundMe campaign after receiving requests from people who wanted to help him. He said he is seeking to raise $850, which would cover the discount he is being offered on an estimated $3,000 paint job.
UPDATE, MAY 25: Juhl reached out to his friend Doug Washburn of Hillside Body, and Washburn has agreed to donate his services to paint the car for Hall.
