(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The vision of Mikey’s Total Car Care began back in 2016 when the owner, Michael Chavez, started the business out of his garage in Falcon and soon moved to a permanent building to keep up with demand.

Roxanne Nelson joined the team in 2018, working as the office manager and helping customers with their needs. After a fire broke out in the auto repair shop last week, she now is left with updating customers along with technicians on when the return will be for the business.

“We have four technicians, Mike is our fifth technician, then myself and we have another gal, Nancy, that runs the front with me,” Nelson said. “All of us are just trying our best, kind of waiting on pins and needles to get back up and running.”

Fire devastates Mikey’s Total Car Care, community rallies to help

When the call first came through, Nelson shared they thought it was somebody trying to break into the business. Since she lives nearby, she was able to quickly arrive to the storefront to understand the situation at hand.

In processing the aftermath of the fire, Nelson said, “It’s really scary. We worked really hard. A lot of blood, sweat and tears in this building.”

Throughout the morning on Wednesday, June 5, a team from Green Vision Environmental was at the repair shop documenting the damage as part of the restoration process.

“When we see this, our biggest concern is cross contamination,” CJ Allen, partner with Green Vision Environmental said about the fire.

Just a couple months ago, this local spot was highlighted for their goodness in giving away a car for free to a family in need.

Mikey’s Total Car Care selects winner for free car giveaway

It comes as no surprise that the Southern Colorado community would extend a helping hand when they needed it most, especially since Mikey’s has helped others get through hard times.

“We had a customer set up a GoFundMe page,” Nelson said. “They have been awesome… and we treat our customers as family, so it means a lot to see these types of things.”

Currently, there have been 48 donations, and the fundraising page continues to be active. There will also be an in-person opportunity this weekend, on Sunday, June 9, at Jaks Brewing in Falcon for people to show their support.

As for employees at Mikey’s, they are eager to get back to work.

“Right now, we do have them on standby,” Nelson said. “I try to update them every day… all of their tools, everything [they use] to work on these vehicles was damaged by smoke or fire.”

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