Bree Oakley, 21, planned to drive her new vehicle for the first time on Sunday and expressed gratitude to its previous owner, Eric Turner.

Well-known for his community work and chairmanship of Albury-Wodonga Cancer Foundation, Mr Turner, 82, no longer needed his 2001 Ford Laser and wished to donate rather than sell it.

After asking former Carevan chief executive Di Mant for suggestions he met Miss Oakley, whom Ms Mant knew through their volunteering for Ronald McDonald House.

“Bree was prepared to give her time freely as a volunteer, then that’s another tick for me,” Mr Turner said.

Miss Oakley, a qualified childcare worker, moved to the Border about 18 months ago from Tasmania.

Lack of convenient transport has impeded her job search, making it hard to get to and from a workplace. 

One volunteer placement in Albury required catching three buses to attend work on time.

“Even though the bus trips themselves didn’t take that long, actually waiting for the next bus was really time-consuming,” she said.

“Sometimes it would be like five hours of travel a day just to get to and from East Albury over to East Wodonga.”

Miss Oakley had been saving for her own car, but now those savings can be put towards registration and other on-road costs.

Mr Turner’s thoughtfulness came amid a major change in his own life, having moved into an Albury aged care facility only days ago.

Miss Oakley said she had been speechless when told of the gift and was now determined to follow Mr Turner’s example.

“It’s inspired me to help change other people’s lives,” she said. “I hope that … people will see that it’s not hard to be so kind and generous and do the same thing, whether it might be paying for someone’s bus fare or giving someone a car.”

As Mr Turner said, “as an individual you can only do so much but when you’re in good company, you can do substantial things.”