'Angel's Garage' helping kids find a permanent home
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Thousands of kids in central Ohio are currently waiting to be adopted and nearly a quarter of them will never find a permanent home.
But one husband and wife are using their automotive talents to help change the narrative.
"We just felt it was a good time to help some children," reflected Angela Babala of "Angel's Garage."
Angela and her husband Mark have been married for 16 years, and the couple has been rebuilding cars together the entire time.
"A 1970 Mach 1 Mustang. It has the 428 Super Cobra Jet engine in it. It's painted to a neon green color, and then it has a glow in the dark over top of it," describes Mark.
The freshly restored set of four wheels will now serve as the key to a forever home for thousands of children.
"If you can use your skills to benefit and to help other people, it's in giving to others that you really get the enjoyment and satisfaction," Mark adds.
Angela and Mark are set to be featured in an upcoming series on NBC's Peacock called Angel's Garage.
The pair auction-off restored classics, to support charities across the country.
"They found out about us, reached out to us, and said they want to do this. And boy, the second we connected with Angela, she was all in," recalls Rita Soronen, the President & CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.
With nearly 4,000 central Ohio foster children stuck searching for permanent homes, the pair identified the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption as their charity of choice this season.
"We just want it to be really big so that at the end of the day, when they pull that ticket, somebody wins a beautiful car, but a lot of money goes to help children find forever homes," says Angela. "That's what it's about."
According to Soronen, Ohio mirror's national statistics. Meaning nearly 20% of the 4,000 kids in Ohio foster-care, unable to return home, will age-out of the system without a family.
"That's a lot of children for whom the long-term outcomes sometimes aren't really good," Soronen adds.
Only 11 cars of its kind were made, meaning organizers hope to fetch big bucks from the Mustang's raffle later this month.
"Those funds help us support awareness programs, as well as direct service programs, that aggressively move children out of foster care and into adoptive homes," describes Soronen.
The couple has raised more than half-a-million dollars for non-profits over the past 10-years.
And though not everyone can foster or adopt, they say supporting initiatives like these can help restore a piece of childhood that's been lost.
In addition to various partners, the couple says each car has had the support of a star.
"Breaking Bad" actor R.J. Mitte will be on-hand to pull the winning ticket.
The car will be raffled off on March 23rd at Ricart Automotive in Groveport.
Tickets are $5, and for information on the event and how to purchase raffle tickets you can visit: < https://www.davethomasfoundation.org/ >