Aspiring Houston Nurse Wins Free Car From Brilliant Auto Care [VIDEO]

Brilliant Auto Care Boni and Bridget Njoku gave a new car to recent nursing school graduate Shamakia Franklin.

Houston’s Brilliant Auto Care awarded an aspiring nurse and recent Texas Health School graduate a new car to help her get her career underway. The local business gave Shamakia Franklin the keys to her new vehicle on Saturday, January 22, 2022. Brilliant Auto Care’s owners said they wanted to do something to honor frontline workers and those in the healthcare field during this difficult time.

The car repair shop is located at 11715 Veterans Memorial Drive in Houston. The 39-year-old Franklin, a Houston resident, recently finished her nursing degree at the Texas Health School and plans to enter the medical field amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. She said on Saturday that the new car will be a major help as she begins her life as a nurse.

Brilliant Auto Care is owned by Bridget and Boni Njoku and has been in business for about eight or nine years, Boni Njoku said. The repair shop was previously known as Boni’s Garage. On Facebook, Boni Njoku writes about his business, “What makes me proud of Brilliant Auto? I think it’s the trust that an entire community can have in you; people coming from all walks of life and all ethnicities can come here and say ‘hey I have a problem and I know you can fix it.'”

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Franklin Says the New Car Will Be ‘Very, Very Helpful’ & Will Allow Her to Get Back & Forth From Work

Shamakia Franklin said on Saturday after receiving the keys to her new blue PT Cruiser that she graduated from the Texas Health School in December. She said there was a raffle at the school for a new car from Brilliant Auto Care and she was the winner. “It makes me feel great,” Franklin said. “I that I will be prepared to go out into the work field and will have a dependable ride. It’s very important. It helps me be able to get back and forth and with things I need to do for my son. It’s very, very helpful.”

Franklin said she received a call from her advisor at the school telling her, “‘Shamakia, you won the car.’ I was so excited. … I was just so happy, so so happy. Very grateful and thankful. I’m thankful to Brilliant Auto Care and Texas Health School for the wonderful education and the great car.”

Boni Njoku said they wanted to “bless someone” with a new car. “For one, with the pandemic going on, especially for people on the frontlines, we really wanted to show our appreciation for what they do for us. This is another way for my wife and I to give back to the community,” Boni Njoku said. He said, “I sincerely hope and pray that it actually makes a big difference in her life. Especially going out there and continuing to do the work she does on a day-to-day basis.”

He added, “We definitely care about people. We definitely want to make sure that when people come in they leave happy. That’s pretty much how we feel about everything we do.”

Houston-Area Hospitals & Other Health Care Providers Have Been Dealing With a Nursing Shortage Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

Franklin and other new nurses are much needed in the Houston area. According to local hospitals and other healthcare providers, there has been a nursing shortage amid the coronavirus pandemic that has only been exasperated by nurses who have to miss work because of positive COVID tests.

According to the Texas Tribune, there were 23,000 unfilled jobs for registered nurses in Texas in August 2021. Carrie Kroll, vice president of advocacy, quality and public health at the Texas Hospital Association, told the Texas Tribune, “There’s no pipeline of staff that we see ready to just hop in and start helping.

Dr. Linda Dune, director of nursing at the University of Houston-Downtown, told Houston Public Media, “There is a current challenge and there will continue to be. We’re estimating that there will be a need for up to 50,000 nurses by 2032 in Texas. Nationwide, we’re looking at just over 1 million nurses that are needed by even next year. So Texas is right there with the rest of the nation. We have a nursing shortage that is really severe, and I imagine it will maintain because of some of the challenges we face in nursing education at this time.”