My 2000 Dodge ram 1500 takes time to accerlate

Recently I got a 2000 dodge ram 1500 as a
gift and it was pretty beat up, I'm trying to
completely repair it now. The main problem
with it right now is that whenever I start the
engine and try to hit the gas, it just revs the
engine like as if we're in neutral. Unless I
slightly touch the gas it will very slowly go
up in speed. After it gets going it can stay at
any speed, it just takes a long time to get up
there. The main problem with that is when
I'm at a stop light, it takes about 10 secs to
hit 20 mph then goes slightly faster. I know
it has 230k miles on it but I'm trying to buy
the complete engine in the future. I just
need to know how to fix this problem. My
dad says it must be the transmission and I
think it might be the case but is there any
alternative for now to fix the problem while I
come up with $900?