Acts of Kindness
Repo Man Takes Seniors' Car, And They Burst Into Tears
"When he took the car I said, 'God, do whatever, whatever you think is best for us."
Britanie Leclair
05.17.18

When Stan Kipping, from Red Bud, Illinois, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, he and his wife, Pat, were devastated.

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As a Navy veteran and retired janitor, the two had never been rich— but it was the first time in their lives that things had ever been so bad. With only a meager retirement fund, the couple was struggling to cover the bills on top of Stan’s Alzheimer’s treatment. The couple managed to survive for a while, but the debt just kept on mounting.

Eventually, Stan and Pat couldn’t even afford their monthly $100 car payment, and the car was set to be repossessed.

The circumstances were depressing, and the aging couple didn’t know what to do. But just when things couldn’t possibly get worse, an angel stepped in to save the day.

Jim Ford is the co-owner of Illini Asset Recovery, the company hired to repossess the Kippings’ car.

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“I’ve been shot at, ran over, just about everything you can imagine,” he said in an interview with Fox2 Now.

When Jim arrived to repossess the elderly couple’s car, he was surprised by their lack of aggression. Instead of arguing or fighting, a hopeless Pat immediately handed over the keys.

Pat told CBS News, “When he took the car I said, ‘God, do whatever, whatever you think is best for us.”

Jim hooked up the Kippings’ car and drove away.

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But he didn’t get very far before something compelled him to stop.

“You know, it was just one of those repos,” he said. “My grandparents are gone, but you know— I could see them in the Kippings.”

“I knew what was going on. The cost of their medications have doubled or tripled, and I know that’s happened to everybody. I knew why they were behind.”

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“I pulled over a block away from their house and called the bank and said… ‘We got to do something. How about I just pay it current right now?'”

Jim arranged to pay off the amount the Kippings were behind. Once that was done, he got the car detailed and had the oil changed.

Knowing his gift wasn’t a permanent solution to the couple’s problems, he also started a GoFundMe to raise the money to pay off their car. In the end, they raised over $35,000 dollars, with most being donated within the first eight hours.

When Jim returned to Pat and Stan’s— with their shiny car in tow— he told them it had been paid for in full, and Pat began to sob.

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Jim also gave Stan and Pat all the money left over from the fundraiser after the car had been paid for.

Pat told CBS News, “He’s [Jim] the kindest man I’ve ever met in all my life. There’s good people out there.”

“He’s our guardian angel.”

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Jim Ford/GoFundMe
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Jim Ford/GoFundMe

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