Linda Kelley lost her job in January when the store she managed closed. The Camarillo single mother of two teenage baseball-playing sons struggled to buy groceries with money from sporadic substitute teaching jobs.

In May, a thief stole her old minivan.

"Everything we had was in it," said Kelley, 36. "We'd just come home from my mom's house, and all my clothes, my kids' clothes ... my son's All Star jacket he's had since he was 7."

The next day, Kelley pulled an old jacket from the back of her closet, put her hand in the pocket and found a business card: Many Motors. The nonprofit agency provides cars to people in need. Kelley now has a Many Motors Mazda minivan with a stained-glass baseball angel hanging from the rear-view mirror.

"She is typical in this way: 87 percent of people who come to us are single and divorced mothers," said Aurora William, the executive director. "Often they lose a job, they can't afford the car they are making payments on, and it's repossessed."

Camarillo-based Many Motors was founded in 2000. The charity gets about 120 donated vehicles a year and refurbishes half to sell at cut-rate prices with no-interest loans to people in need. The other half are sold to support the program.

Many Motors, with a $71,000 annual budget, has two full-time employees, two part-timers and volunteers. William makes $52,000 a year, and her son is one of the part-timers. The Many Motors board has 10 members who abide by a written conflict-of-interest policy. When a popular Allstate insurance agent joined the board, he stopped getting referrals from the nonprofit.

Financially, the charity struggles, its IRS tax-exempt forms show. The charity doesn't get enough donations to pay expenses. William said the charity's vendors such as auto mechanics and tow companies let her pay over time.

"I pray," William said. "I pray to God, 'Show me the way. What do I need to do to make this a success?' "

Regan Schaffer, an assistant professor of management who directs the nonprofit management program at Pepperdine University, often sends her students to Many Motors to consult and learn.

"They are a very small organization, but we've had nothing but a positive experience," said Schaffer. "I've never had a cause to question any of their practices."

After Kelley qualified for the program, she paid a $50 deposit and signed a contract to make $90-per-month payments for 18 months. She now has a full-time job as a school instructional assistant, as well as a part-time accounting job. Kelley credits her Many Motors minivan with making it possible.

"Whenever I think about everything that happened with Many Motors, it's just amazing to me," she said. "I've always had to do everything on my own. When this happened to me, I was absolutely blown away by the people willing to help."