Save Aidan's Spine! (With a new family vehicle...)

Hi there. We are the Zimmerman-Cooneys. Aidan, MaLinda, Dega, and our newest addition, LaLeta. And we need a car that is safe, secure, can travel in the snow, and most importantly - we can all fit in!

This van will also benefit in travels to Pittsburgh to take our young ones to educational centers like the museums, Children’s Center and Zoo. It will make camping and nature excursions much more comfortable and reliable. It will help for future governmental work and school internships. Importantly, it will save visiting family members the need to rent a car every time they visit.  We are starting this campaign because any help will be a huge advantage! We have put the goal at a quarter of the cost after all taxes and titling. 

 

 

 

 

We recently made one of our dreams come true by moving across the country from Phoenix, Arizona to the beautiful state of Pennsylvania, where we are surrounded by all that nature has to offer. We have been welcomed with open arms by our small community and are settling in rather well. We are so excited to raise our children here. We have only felt at home and this much a part of a community once, and that was during our time in the Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa where there was an overwhelming feeling of family all around.

 

 

 

On October 13th, 2021, we had our little girl LaLeta Louise Zimmerman Cooney.

 

 

She loves riding in the car once it starts moving. Our car however, is a small 2009 Toyota Yaris with very little room (our tall, 2.75 year old tries to expand his leg room into my spine), no defrost or feet heating, and reaching upwards of 170k miles. It has been a great car - but it is not going to function here for long. Rather than putting the money into it for what it will need to get by, we have chosen to upgrade to a minivan. It is used, 2011, and priced fairly.


We were going to wait until taxes came back next year to finance a car, but we cannot wait that long when thinking about the safety of our children and the possibilities of not having a car come winter time.

 

 

While we generally pride ourselves on being self-sufficient, MaLinda is still recovering from surgery complications and then plans to finish her Master's degree in Public Health.


Until such time that she can score a job that pays well and also helps our fellow humans at large, we are a single income household - and I currently work in higher education, which is more gratifying than lucrative. We know more than anything that we have so much more than so many people in the world, and we are so grateful for what we have, which is why campaigning for help with a material purchase like a minivan seems a little shameful for us. But, when help is needed, all you have to do is ask. Right?

We expect nothing and are going forward with the purchase anyways, but after reading that this is not an abnormal way to raise money for a car we wanted to give it a try. The generosity of people continues to amaze me everyday, in our own lives and those of others. We are so grateful to all of you out there that make it a point to help others, regardless of who it is. Thank you so much for all you do!