280 clients with vehicle-related services . `` Receiving ... the car is more than just the car , '' said Jacobs . `` People literally see how it 's going to change their life '' by knocking down an obstacle that had gotten in their way due to lack of transportation . Jacobs would know . The 59-year-old Tampa resident lost access to reliable transportation more than a decade ago when she ended a relationship and left her car behind . While staying with a friend who lived far from a bus line and across town from Jacobs ' evening job , she had to hitch rides to work . That did not last long , Jacobs said , thanks to a used car dealership owner who loaned Jacobs three clunkers while she saved the money to buy her own car . But soon she saw others in a similar predicament . In 2000 , as the manager of a staffing agency , Jacobs was struck by the high number of clients who lost jobs in which her office had placed them because they could n't always get there . Others turned down positions and promotions because limited public transportation
TAMPA BAY , Florida -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Judging by her proud expression as she left the parking lot in her 1991 Honda Accord for the first time , Jessica Ostrofsky could have been driving a brand new sports car . Susan Jacobs ' Wheels of Success program helps low-income workers get their own cars . `` I 'm so happy , '' she said with a laugh . `` Having this -LSB- car -RSB- is going to change my life drastically because it 's going to make me totally independent . '' Ostrofsky , 31 , a single mother of three , had been leaving her house before dawn -- toting a stroller , car seat , diaper bag and purse -- to catch a bus . She would go first to her children 's baby sitter and then to work . The trip took up to three hours . But on Labor Day , the St. Petersburg , Florida , resident and 19 others received their own cars , thanks to Susan Jacobs ' Wheels of Success program . Since 2003 , Wheels of Success has refurbished 280 donated cars for low-income individuals and families and helped another