From serving in the military to saving lives at MarketSource, Recall Repair Specialist Rhonda Lorenz has dedicated her career to serving others and making a meaningful impact in the world.
In 1987, Rhonda joined the U.S. Air Force as an avionics technician for the B-52G/H Stratofortress, the KC-135A Stratotanker, and the HH-1 Huey helicopter. She was deployed to England during the first Gulf War, where the US loaded bombs onto aircrafts. There, she ensured all radios and navigational equipment on our B-52s worked perfectly throughout their 14-hour, round-trip flight to Iraq.
“It was an interesting experience,” Rhonda says. “Aircraft maintainers didn’t have appropriate sleeping accommodations because the base housing was occupied entirely by medical personnel in the event of mass casualties. Thankfully, there weren’t, but those of us working 16 hours a day, seven days a week on aircrafts were relegated to small spaces with just enough room for our sleeping bags. Because of our location working with planes on the flight line, we weren’t able to leave for meals during our shift, so we were provided with MREs (“Meal Ready-to-Eat”). At that time, it was the coldest weather England had experienced in 100 years, so we quickly realized we could place our MREs on top of the aircraft’s external power cart radiators for a warm meal!”
During her 11 years serving the country, Rhonda was also deployed to locations such as Alaska, Saudi Arabia and Thailand, to name a few.
Even though her work kept her extremely busy, she still found time to earn a medical degree while serving and soon became a physician in England and the West Indies. She also shared her knowledge and skills through volunteering her time to certify 800 medical students in basic life-support techniques—a testament to her unwavering dedication to saving lives.
At MarketSource, Rhonda serves as a recall repair specialist. In her seven years here, she has been charged with ensuring vehicles equipped with the potentially deadly Takata airbags are either repaired or reported back to the manufacturers if the vehicle has been destroyed (i.e., totaled in an accident and is no longer on the road). To do this, she must physically visit the last-known address of these vehicles’ owners, which can be a tedious—and often thankless—job.
“For every vehicle owner or household member who may give you a hard time and sometimes become confrontational, I encourage people to take a deep breath and go to at least two more addresses,” she says. “The amazing thing is you will find those two extra stops will help reconfirm your conviction for making drivers and passengers of these vehicles safe from injury and possible death.”
“For every vehicle owner or household member who may give you a hard time and sometimes become confrontational, I encourage people to take a deep breath and go to at least two more addresses,” she says. “The amazing thing is you will find those two extra stops will help reconfirm your conviction for making drivers and passengers of these vehicles safe from injury and possible death.”
About 3.5 years ago, Rhonda was speaking to some car owners who told her about a large event held in California, Texas, and Florida for our client’s enthusiasts that includes car shows, tech seminars, auto-cross racing, and a “loudest exhaust” competition. “I thought [it] would be a great place to help get these airbags repaired,” she remembers. “After speaking with my supervisor about attending the event with my little wagon that had parts and tools to make repairs, he and our program director decided for us to be even more involved. We set up an airbag recall information booth with fellow colleagues who could scan and repair vehicles on the spot. Now we’ve been doing this across the country and have been extremely successful in repairing vehicles that would have never been accessed otherwise.”
Rhonda’s favorite part of the job, however, are the varied personalities she encounters, different places she goes, and the unique situations or conditions she finds some of the vehicles in.
She even has a toy poodle puppy who has become the unofficial mascot for the program and has brought a lot of joy to the team. With her supervisor’s permission, Rhonda programmed her vehicle to keep it running with the A/C on but also locked with no keys while she visits vehicle owners—keeping him cool and safe at the same time. She says he has always been a good conversation starter, as many people they visit are either dog lovers or have dogs themselves.
Rhonda’s favorite part of the job, however, are the varied personalities she encounters, different places she goes, and the unique situations or conditions she finds some of the vehicles in. After a recent windstorm that hit southeast Georgia, a vehicle owner presented Rhonda with their beloved, souped-up car that had been crushed by a massive live oak tree. While he was planning to do the necessary repairs to bring his car back to life, Rhonda insisted that she just needed a short time to take care of one less repair for him while she was already there. “The dash was surprisingly intact but had scattered shards of glass from the windshield inside,” Rhonda says. “I cleaned everything off, covered the seats and floor with some towels and easily swapped out his airbag inflator. I left with a very grateful customer.”
Despite Rhonda’s varied career experience, there are also many commonalities: keeping others safe, living a life of service, and dedicating her all to anything she touches. Everyone she impacts, including MarketSource, is better because of it.
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