NADA 2019

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - A woman in dire need of a car was given one on Wednesday morning by a Lowcountry business.

LaShunda Pugh’s six-year-old daughter, Zamarrea, is on dialysis and needs a kidney but cannot get on the transplant list at MUSC.

Pugh said she was told she does not have a “stable household” because she didn’t have a car or job. However, she just got a new job and thought she was going to meet with someone about another job on Wednesday morning when she was brought to J.D. Byrider’s used car dealership in North Charleston.

Pugh was brought into the office and while inside, employees secretly gathered outside in front of the new car.

The plan worked perfectly as she walked out of the doors and everyone yelled, “Surprise!”

“I’m going through a lot right now," Pugh said. “My focus is on getting my daughter a kidney, and I’m trying to do everything to comply with the hospital. Thank you, thank you."

President of J.D. Byrider, Jonathan Gandolfo, and his employees heard about Pugh’s story and came up with this way to help.

“We wanted to do something to help and we needed to get her daughter on the transplant list,” Gandolfo said. "And she needed reliable transportation to get on that list and we decided to help as a team.”

Pugh’s daughter is currently in the hospital and could be there several more weeks.

“It’s just been a really rough road,” she said.

The dealership also paid for a year’s worth of insurance, two years of warranty and a few months work of gas cards.

“It'’s nice to give back to somebody that needs help," Gandolfo added. “We’re very fortunate and privileged to do so. So this is every bit as exhilarating as it is for us as it is for them.”