PORT ANGELES — She’ll get a head gasket in her holiday basket.
Actually, Hannah Hoffmaster will receive a whole rebuilt engine for the Subaru she uses to drive her ailing son to and from Seattle Children’s Hospital each month.
Playing Santa in this story are Peninsula College Foundation Director Getta Rogers and the school’s automotive technology program director, Mike Hansen.
And the elves? They’re Hansen’s second-year students, who’ll rebuild the 250,000-mile-old motor.
The tale plays out like this:
Working toward degree
Hoffmaster is working toward an associate degree in ultrasound technology. Because her 22-month-old son has epilepsy, sleep apnea, developmental delays and difficulty swallowing, he needs treatments several times a month at the Seattle hospital, which is 80 miles away.
“If we couldn’t make it to Seattle Children’s, I genuinely believe my son would have died from how bad his seizures are,” she wrote on her GoFundMe page, “Ezra’s Transportation to Seattle.”
“I only ask that we continue to safely make it there.”
To make the trips, Hoffmaster bought a Subaru that didn’t meet its advertised “good condition.” It required $2,000 in immediate repairs, and she later learned it needed new tires and a head gasket.
The Port Angeles student wanted to sell the car — until she found it wasn’t worth enough to fund a replacement.
That’s where the Peninsula College Foundation stepped in. It sometimes receives donated cars that the college automotive program repairs and gives to students who need transportation.
But when Rogers asked Hansen if he had such a vehicle, there wasn’t one.
Hansen, though, suggested repairing Hoffmaster’s Subaru and asked his students if they’d help.
“The response was an overwhelming, ‘We’re all in!’ ” he said. “They immediately asked, ‘What can we do to help?’ ”
Willing hands wouldn’t be enough, however, to put the car back on the road.
Hansen secured an engine at cost from Simpsons Used Parts in Port Angeles. Justin Parker of the Port Angeles High School machine shop worked on the cylinder heads. Les Schwab donated four tires and wheels.
Some of the students are driving up their own mileage to perform the work: Rigoberto Juan makes a daily trip in from Forks, and Jaymark Perba comes in from Poulsbo.
Other students involved in the project include Brittney Baker, Ryan Starks, Brian LaForge, Byanka Machuca and Sidney Robertson.
“When you’ve got kids, it’s hard seeing someone else not be able to do things for their kids,” Baker said.
“It’s the season — Christmas time,” said Starks, who plans to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering when he completes the program.
“We’re just trying to make things right in our corner of the world.”
A tisket, a gasket
The students’ plan: pull the old engine, remove all its usable components, add them to the engine from Simpsons, check every part, then drop it all into the car.
They hope to present the rehabbed vehicle to Hoffmaster by Wednesday or Thursday before spending the holidays with their families.
Hoffmaster plans to pay for the engine with funds raised on her GoFundMe account, http://tinyurl.com/pdn-ezrafund.
The Peninsula College Foundation provides students with aid for professional development, instructional equipment and other needs for their education.
For details, contact Rogers at grogers@pencol.edu or Hansen at mhansen@pencol.edu.
