HOUSTON — Life isn't easy for those in the Greater Houston area without a good working vehicle. However, many don't have the money to keep their cars running.
On any given day, there's no telling where you'll find Josh Mica and his small team of mechanics from Poz Impact. KHOU 11’s Dave Froehlich caught up with him as he was helping Trenitra "Neecy" Glover on the city's south side.
Helping others comes naturally to Mica. Four years ago, when he started what was then called Positive Impact, it was the furthest thing from a mobile car repair business. It was actually a radio show aimed at helping people in the Houston area like himself who are living with HIV.
“People did not understand what HIV meant, and how it's still very prominent in our community here in Houston,” he said. “Houston has one of the highest rates of infection of HIV still and newly diagnosed/late diagnosis, which means people with stage 3 HIV are being diagnosed.”
However, Mica said the pandemic shut down the radio show. Then his car followed suit and shut down too. He was having trouble finding the help he needed to get it moving again.
“I was getting frustrated with people not showing up, or people showing up to do the job then leaving me halfway through the job stranded,” he said. “And so I was like, there's got to be a better way out there.”
Most of us say something like that at one time or another but Mica didn't stop at just words.
“I was like ‘OK, let me see what I can do.’ I hired mechanics and I created Poz Impact mobile mechanic to be able to offer an affordable rate for people who can get their work done. And then also for people who absolutely cannot afford to get their vehicles worked on for whatever reason, we want to offer that for free," he said.
Mica and his mechanics have now been doing this work for two years, trying to meet the automotive needs of Houston’s most vulnerable. Every day he sees firsthand how tough life in this city can be for those without a working car.
“In Houston, I just saw there's 1.2 million cars driving on the roads every single day. So if you're hitting traffic, that's why there's 1.2 million cars. And I guarantee you out of those 1.2 million cars, one in five cannot afford unexpected auto repair,” he said.
That was certainly the case for Neecy Glover, a recently evicted single grandmother. She found she could no longer rely on her 2001 Toyota Solara to get her to her two jobs.
“Uber is expensive! That's like $20 a ride, so I needed my car fixed,” she said.
“You do a couple of those, it's almost not worth it to go into work,” Froehlich told her.
“No, it's not because it's taking up half your paycheck getting to work!" she said.
Fortunately, Glover got connected to Mica and his crew and through two repair sessions, the Solara, with almost 300,000 miles on the odometer, is road ready again.
While making sure people know their HIV status and making sure their cars are running right might seem like two totally different things, Mica said there's a common purpose of service behind both.
“He's helping a lot of people. A lot,” Glover said. “And they do a good job, too. When he says he's going to do it, he's going to do it!"
Mica said he plans to keep doing mobile repairs throughout the Greater Houston area, but he'd also like to open a brick-and-mortar shop, where he could do repairs as well as house a clinic where people could check their HIV status.
If you'd like to learn more about the mission of Poz Impact or donate, you can go to pozimpact.org.