This restaurant owner spends his free time fixing old cars and donating them to people in need

Less than a year after his death, Middleton, 38, now a restaurant owner, is honoring his father’s legacy by fixing junk cars and donating them to people throughout rural South Carolina, where public transportation is sparse.To get the cars, he trades a plate of ribs from his restaurant, Middleton’s Village BBQ, to anyone willing to part with a broken-down vehicle.Middleton also launched an online fundraising campaign to support the project.”You don’t have a car, you don’t have a career. How will people who have no reliable buses, no Ubers, travel to the city, where they would be able to find bigger jobs at the port authorities or manufacturing centers?” Middleton told CNN. “They can’t walk 40, 50, 60 miles to great jobs — they have to settle for small-end jobs that pay well below what they need to survive.”So far, he’s collected 100 cars and surprised 33 community members with a repaired ride — without asking for a single thing in return.”Giving someone a car can change all that, and it does change all that,” he said. “I want to help everybody looking to better themselves when transportation is what’s holding them back.”Middleton said the idea to gift vehicles to people in need came to him in November 2019, when he organized a food drive to distribute 250 boxes of his barbeque.”I was so shocked, I never expected it,” Jennings said. “It was very touching for Eliot to think of me too. It really meant so much to me. I didn’t have to worry about how to get to work, or rely on people anymore. I was really struggling and he helped ease that so much.”After losing his job last week, Jennings got even more help from his good friend.Middleton, who recently turned his project into a non-profit organization called Middleton’s Village To Village Foundation, hired Jennings to become a permanent member of his team.”A lot of people turn to their pastors or psychiatrists to open up about their situations, but others turn to their communities,” Middleton said. “That’s what I’m here for, to always be here for my community whether it’s for advice or to talk or fix up cars for them. I’ll always be taking care of my people.”