Hi folks, Alan Smallwood here. This question might sound a little “girlie” coming from a guy like me. Don’t panic or worry—it is supposed to.

What does the word “powderpuff” mean to you? Maybe it’s a fluffy thing with a handle on it that lives in a container of white “age defying” dust in your wife’s bathroom vanity.

Well, to you, and her, that might be correct—but to a group of girls at a local home called Saving Grace, it could mean knowledge, safety, empowerment, worthiness, affirmation, or even survival.

Hmm, survival? Yes, survival!

So, just what is powderpuff? I’m glad you asked. It is my way of informing, teaching, showing, sharing knowledge, encouraging, and cheering on these girls through a life skills class I teach about car maintenance.

Okay, we’re talking basics here—the kind of stuff dads teach their daughters. I teach the girls what a battery looks like, where it is located—under the hood? Under the back seat? Maybe under the fender, behind the inner fender, and what its primary purpose is.

Are we having fun yet? C’mon, it’s like a scavenger hunt!

I show them where and how to check the oil, power steering fluid, washer fluid, transmission fluid, and coolant level. Disclaimer: NEVER open a radiator cap on a HOT engine!

I also teach them how to check their tire pressure—where to find the information for the correct tire pressure. Okay, trivia time—do you know where to find the tire pressure for YOUR vehicle?

If you said, the owner’s manual, you wouldn’t be wrong, but these girls would find theirs faster than you.

While you are fumbling through your glovebox or center console looking for your owner’s manual, they would be well on their way to checking and filling their first tire. Did you know it is also on a decal either on the driver’s door or in the door jamb?

You’re welcome!

Alright, here is where the story is going to get “real. During my time teaching this class I met one girl that really had an impact on me—let’s call her “Grace.” I don’t know all of her story, but what I do know breaks my heart. She had never been able to depend on her own father. He wasn’t around to teach her much of anything, let alone love her the way she deserved. This girl was “hurt.” I do not know how far or how deep that hurt went. “Grace” ended up in the foster care system.

As time went on, “Grace” aged out of foster care—and like thousands of other kids in her situation, she became homeless. Thankfully, she found a new home, a safe home—at Saving Grace—where whether or not she realized it at the time, she would be safe, cared for AND loved unconditionally.

“Grace” wouldn’t trust—or couldn’t trust—a male figure ever again, or so she thought. Until a simple guy named Alan showed up to teach a class about cars and somehow healed a little piece of her heart—because as it turns out, the father she could never count on had one thing in common with me. We have the same first name.

The moral of this story is this—we can ALL do SOMETHING to help SOMEONE!

Never in a thousand lifetimes, let alone, a thousand years, would I have ever thought that teaching a young woman how to care for her vehicle would have or could have helped bring healing to a special young lady named “Grace,” but that’s exactly what she shared that it did for her that day.

Let Go. Let God! It just might come as a surprise as to how HE wants to use YOU!

Submitted March, 2021 by Alan L. Smallwood,
Bella Vista Assembly of God handyman and generous Saving Grace Volunteer