An Oak Lawn mother’s life changed Christmas Eve when Deanne Recklaus won a free 2025 Chevrolet Trax SUV.

The giveaway was the 10th annual Chevy Cares Car Giveaway Contest from Chevrolet of Homewood, a tradition intended to show Christmas miracles are still possible.

For Recklaus, a mother of six, including a daughter with lupus, the car is more than just a big present.

It’s a lifeline to the hospital, a ride to work and a life raft in a stormy sea. It’s hope on four wheels, taxes paid in full.

“Never give up hope. Never give up hope,” Recklaus said, between tears. “Miracles happen.”

Recklaus was crying as she stepped into the Trax and sat behind the wheel.

The car is a gift of dealership President Steve Phillipos, who also paid for new plates, state taxes and for three months of car insurance. He wants to give people a chance to take a breath, to not worry — at least for a little while — about transportation.

Transportation doesn’t change lives by itself, but it means a job, going to school, going to the hospital and not having to wait on cold, icy mornings or in the rain, during the scorching summers with children, groceries, elderly parents or alone at a bus stop.

“I truly believe you can change someone’s life,” Phillipos said. “I truly believe it. You can change someone’s lives. We have had people get jobs, we’ve had two people get jobs come back two years later and trade in the cars they got for free for new cars.”

Phillipos started the giveaway when he was in a tight spot with the dealership. In 2009, the financial industry meltdown hit the auto industry hard. General Motors, the company that owns Chevrolet, had to be bailed out by the federal government and car sales took a dive.

The industry faced massive layoffs. Phillipos said he’d never seen anything like it.

He wasn’t sure if he could keep the lights on.

“I was one of those guys who thought it was over,” he said. “There was no car business, there were no jobs, there was no anything. So we took the slogan, ‘do you believe in miracles’ and I believe in miracles. I am a really lucky guy and I give back every chance I get.”

Each year, Phillipos said the dealership accepts letters from anyone in the area who believes they could use a free car.

He and his staff review the letters, winnowing the pile to five and then those five participants come in for a video interview.

Finally, a winner is picked. Phillipos called Recklaus last week and told her the good news.

“This young lady has six kids,” he said. “She has one little girl who has a real bad disease and can’t get her to the hospital.”

Phillipos explained the cancer treatment has weakened the girl’s immune system, meaning she’s at high risk for infections, so public transportation and even Ubers aren’t safe. He said life’s complications can get tricky like, with one bit of bad luck meaning more hardships, more stress and more worry.

“It starts spinning in the wrong direction,” he said. “If we could spin this in the right direction for somebody else, it’s a lifechanging. With a new car, You can drive your mother to the hospital, you can take the kids to school.”

Latoya Glover Alexander agreed. She won a new Chevy two years ago and she said it changed her life.

“It’s not just a car,” she said. “It’s everything a car allows.”

In her case, it gave her the freedom to get a better job in the city and buy a house. The car gave her a whole new life.

“It’s something to build on,” she said. “It gave me confidence in life, and it let me know there are good people in life.”

Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.