Tyler Olah knew right away. At the top of the 18-year-old’s wish
list was getting his truck fixed.
Tyler Olah knew right away. At the top of the 18-year-old’s wish list was getting his truck fixed.
It came true in a big way on March 19 at Greenwood Chevrolet. Through the Make-A-Wish Foundation and with the help of many locals, the Hollister resident saw the 1997 GMC Sonoma for the first time after it had gone in for an upgrade. As he soon realized, he got a lot more than a repair job.
At first sight, while a group of volunteers on the endeavor watched, Olah smiled and looked as though he wondered what had happened to the truck that was.
“It doesn’t look anything like it,” said Olah, as business owner Marty Greenwood showed him the exterior.
After Olah got a first glance of the truck, Greenwood had each of the involved volunteers approach him for introductions. From there, Olah was invited to check out the interior and at one point he gave it a ceremonial first drive out of the garage area.
“That looks really nice,” said Olah, as he examined it from the outside. “Thank you. I like it.”
Aside from the maintenance, done by Greenwood’s crew, a slew of volunteers had decked it out with a maroon paint job, pinstriping, a new windshield, new tires and wheels, a bedliner and a leather interior. Olah also received $500 in gas cards from Nino Real Estate.
Greenwood said there was about $15,000 worth of work put into a $2,000 truck.
“If I were to take it on a trade,” he said of the prior version, “it would be $500.”
Well worth the effort
For the volunteers, though, the work was well worth it when the project culminated with Olah’s arrival. He had been through quite a bit in recent months. He was diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukemia Aug. 26 of last year and has endured most of his scheduled chemotherapy treatment.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation got involved about four months ago. Jan and Gene Corriden are volunteers with the organization who interviewed Olah after Make-A-Wish received a request for him. Their job was to find out his No. 1 wish.
“Sometimes they know. Other times they don’t,” said Jan Corriden, who has been involved in making such wishes come true for nearly 10 years. “He knew right from the beginning, he wanted to have his truck repaired.”
The Corridens estimated the number of wishes with which they have been involved is “in the hundreds” by now. They help connect the organization with wish requests in San Benito, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.
“It’s everything from little kids who want to go to Disneyland to big kids like this,” she said. “The big girls want to do shopping sprees.”
“This is the second car wish we’ve done, and it’s amazing how people will come together. It’s a community member. It’s not somebody who is a stranger.”
A lot of the coming together part had to do with Greenwood and Rich McAbee getting all the players involved.
“Gene from Make-A-Wish gave me a call and saw the truck,” Greenwood said. “He saw the truck sitting at the house, and it was just dilapidated. I said, ‘Yeah, I want to do something.'”
Recruiting help
He got a hold of his friend McAbee – with McAbee Trucking and I&D Body – and everything came together from there.
“It was brown,” McAbee said. “I was on the way to a hockey game, and I asked, ‘What’s his favorite color?'”
Automotive Color and PPG Paint and Automotive chipped in about $800 in paint. Greenwood contributed about $400 in paint. Involvement grew from there as locals were more than willing to give back for the cause.
Aaron and Blake Kakebeen from Top Stitch Upholstery & Design handled the interior. Mike Duarte from McAbee Trucking helped out on the painting part. Dominic Rossi from Rossi Tires did the wheels. John and Mark Tobias from Tobias Farms donated the tires. Eric Barton from South County Line-X handled the bedliner. And Harry Auto Signs did the pinstriping.
After letting things set in, Olah expressed gratitude to the volunteers who made it happen.
“It’s really amazing how everyone chipped in and helped fix up my truck,” he said. “I’m very grateful they did that. I’m really happy they did this.”
Why was the truck at the top of his wish list?
“Mainly because, well, I don’t have any money to buy a new car,” he said. “I really liked the truck. This is my first truck. I figured, why not get it fixed up?
“It was a nice car. I’m really happy I did because it turned out great.”
Olah has one more chemotherapy treatment and then he is done, while he will continue going to the hospital for monthly check-ups.
“It’s been pretty much a hard year so far,” he said. “But what everyone did, it makes everything a lot easier now. I want to thank everyone who helped with this.”
The following locals kicked in for the Tyler Olah project:
Greenwood: maintenance, windshield, organizing
McAbee Trucking: paint work and organizing
Top Stitch Upholstery & Design: interior
South County Line-X: bedliner
John and Mark Tobias: tires
Rossi Tires: wheels
Harry’s Auto Signs: pinstriping
PPG Paint and Automotive: paint
Automotive Color: paint
Nino Real Estate: $500 in gas cards
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
A child with a life-threatening medical condition who has reached the age of 2 1/2 and is under the age of 18 at the time of referral, is potentially eligible for a wish. After a child is referred to the Make-A-Wish, it will contact the child’s physician to determine whether the child is medically eligible for a wish, based on the medical criteria established by the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America. In addition, a child cannot have received a wish from another wish-granting group.
