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Body shop repairs bullied student's damaged car for free

Jordan Addison, a student at Radford University is openly gay, and some of his fellow students vandalized his car for it. A body shop got local businesses to chip in to repair Addison's car--and take a stand against bullying.
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Jordan Addison, seeing his "new" car for the first time.
Jordan Addison, seeing his "new" car for the first time.
Published: Aug. 23, 2012 at 4:26 PM
By GABRIELLE LEVY, UPI.com

It's an all-too familiar story.

A young person, gay, or maybe just perceived that way, taunted by his or her peers.Called out for the way he looks, the way she dresses, how he speaks. Bullied.

Jordan Addison, an openly-gay student at Radford University outside of Roanoke, Va., was targeted in this way. His car, a forest green VW had been vandalized four times between March and May of this year.

"The first time there were some homophobic slurs keyed into the side of it," Addison told WDBJ TV. "Then the second time I had 'die' keyed into it."

Now, thanks to the generosity of his community, Addison's car is better than new. WDBJ reported that the manager of a Roanoke body shop, Quality Auto Pain and Body, the car has been repaired and even given a few extra features, all for free.

"Once I saw the vandalism that was done to it I said that's uncalled for we're gonna fix your car that's the least we can do," Richard Henegar Jr., the manager of Quality Auto, told WDBJ. At the cost of more than $10,000 and 100 hours to Quality Auto and contributions from 10 other local businesses, Addison's Volkswagon has new tires, paint job, windows, a security system and a stereo.

Watch as Addison sees his made-over car for the first time, below.

Note: While the employees of the auto body shop, as well as Addison, are wearing t-shirts from the Bully Project, a representative from TBP confirmed that they were not involved.

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