Riding in Christina Tellis' '99 Chevrolet Venture van was like throwing a penny in a well. She could only wish the constantly jerking vehicle got her seven children to school and day care, then to her job as a nurse's assistant.

When it didn't cooperate, Tellis loaded the children, ages 2 to 15, on and off RTA buses.

"Some of us were in the front. Some of us were standing up," the 31-year-old Dayton resident said.

A challenge from Oprah Winfrey to "pay it forward" will help Tellis get her van detailed, tuned up and equipped with a remote starter at Carl's Body Shop and Towing on Wayne Avenue. AAMCO Transmission in Huber Heights will rebuild the transmission.

"When she gets the van back, it will have an all-over makeover," said Marya Rutherford-Hardin, National City Bank's vice president of community reinvestment. Some of the work is being done free.

In a show that aired Monday, Winfrey gave Rutherford-Hardin, co-worker Linda Ruddy and more than 300 other audience members camcorders and $1,000 debit cards for charitable donations. They are making videos about the causes.

Ruddy, a bank executive assistant, donated to Artemis Center for Alternatives to Domestic Violence, where Tellis is a client. Artemis provides early intervention, supportive services and education to domestic violence victims and their children.

Rutherford-Hardin used her $1,000 to support His Kids, an outreach program at Phillips Temple CME Church, where she is a minister. Today, she'll pass out hats, coats and gloves to children. The church matched her donation.

Generation Dayton, a Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce program, will provide Christmas items to Tellis' family. Al Sicard, a State Farm representative, donated $1,000 toward repairs for the van. He helped Rutherford-Hardin get tickets to Oprah's show.

Mary Eileen Lechleitner of the CareSource in Dayton was also in the audience. She is working with Barnes & Noble to build a library for the YWCA of Dayton's Homeless Children's Day Shelter. To donate new books, call 461-5550.

About 25 children from the YWCA, Red Cross, Salvation Army and St. Vincent DePaul use the center daily while their parents work or look for work, said Kimberly Snow, communication director for the YWCA, which assists female survivors of rape or domestic violence.

Lechleitner's daughters were in the audience as well. Kiley Lechleitner, 24, of Chicago is determining how to use her donation. Alison Lechleitner, 27, of Vandalia donated $500 to the family of a man battling cancer. She plans to use the rest on a SICSA program.