Mullins Auto Body Gives Away Car to Niceville Student

Zikeara Flowers thought she just had a rehearsal for a big Air Force JROTC inspection on her hands when she arrived at Niceville High School Monday morning.

So you can imagine her surprise when she found out she was instead present for a gift of a car from Mullins Auto Body.

Mullins Auto Body’s CEO, Amber Carter, surprised the four-year JROTC participant with the vehicle after reaching out to the school district with an offer to donate a 2013 Chevy Malibu to a student who could use it. Her company purchased the car from a previous owner who brought it in for bodywork after a collision.

Carter, a Niceville High School graduate, says the experience of giving a car to a needy student was unlike anything else she’s experienced. “It’s hard to express how I feel,” Carter said after the giveaway, “when you can do it [give away a vehicle] and see the reaction from people – it’s a completely different feeling. It’s just heartwarming.”

Carter wasn’t able to meet the family and Zikeara before the giveaway announcement, but she says her anxieties melted when she met them. “When you do something like this, you just kind of put it in God’s hands that it’s the right person.”

Niceville Principal Charles Marello was on hand for the unveiling as well. He says plenty of people talk a good game when it comes to giving back to the community – but this gift to Flowers goes above and beyond anything he’s seen previously. “This is my ninth year at Niceville High School, and I’ve never experienced anything at this level. I do, from time to time, get folks who say they would like to do this or that, but sometimes they are more talk than follow through. There was just never a doubt when Amber reached out that they were going to do this,” Marello said, “today was just over-the-top generous.”