Grand Opening: Celebrating How God Showed Up

“God doesn’t just give things to us, he uses people to help,” Marnie Bokelman shared with the audience at the ChangingGears Grand Opening on April 7, 2022. “We are so grateful to all of our clients, volunteers, staff members, donors and business partners for sacrificing their time, sharing their resources, and donating money and vehicles to help fuel ChangingGears.”

ChangingGears celebrated the Grand Opening of its new automotive repair shop and offices as a part of CityLink Center’s campus expansion. The new building, funded through New Market Tax Credits, grants, and generous individual giving, enables ChangingGears to serve more clients by doubling the capacity of the car repair shop, increasing office space, and adding career-training facilities for the Automotive Technician Training Program that launched in 2021.

In 2020, Joel and Marnie Bokelman, co-founders of ChangingGears, knew they needed a new building to continue their operations. The previous building had a leaky roof, uneven floor and limited office space for the growing team. At the time, they didn’t have a solution but knew they needed to figure it out so they prayed and asked God to help.

A few months later, their partner organization,CityLink Center, said they were launching a campus expansion campaign and wanted to build ChangingGears a new building. CityLink would fund the building if ChangingGears funded everything inside it - car lifts, office furniture, insurance, etc.

“It was incredible how God showed up,” Marnie said. “God also showed up through someone at the IRS office to give us an approval quickly when ChangingGears applied for its non-profit license in 2011. God used generous people to help us fund payroll in the beginning when we didn’t think we were going to have enough. God always shows up”