The Cars 4 Causes Blog.

Fundraising for education is dear to the heart of Cars 4 Causes®. As most of our car donators, friends and fans now know, our first efforts were all about raising funds for schools. Our story began in the classroom and then branched out into so many worthwhile directions that we became known as “The Charity That Gives To Charities(R).”

We have been amazed by the many charities that serve people and causes around the world and proud to be partnered with so many of them. There are many that provide help to schools and fill other educational needs. You’ll find several on our webpage listing of charities.  We think they’re all terrific, and here are a few examples:

Donating Cars to Education

The Youth Science Center helps kids explore and learn to love science and math, with exhibits, interactive learning programs, and hands-on learning experiences. The Center offers math, science and technology classes for students grades K-8, all with the goal of improving math and science education.

What’s In Your Lunch Box is a collaboration of doctors, professionals, interns and students who provide support to families living with autism. The organization hosts interactive education and training workshops on diet and nutrition, adaptive physical exercise and advocacy, all designed to help families manage and overcome the unique challenges and barriers of feeding children on the Autism Spectrum.

Harley School is a Rochester, New York, independent private school for children from the nursery through Grade 12. Harley School focuses on nurturing the unique strengths of each student, while striving to foster a love of learning, creative imagination and a desire for intellectual achievement.

These are three very different charities with one thing in common that touches every parent’s heart: they all exist to help our children. So do the many other educational institutions and organizations listed in our list of charities. Take a look, and see the many ways a car donation can make a difference in a child’s life.

It’s back-to-school time around the nation, and we’re happy to say that this year, Cars 4 Cause® was able to help two students on their way to college. The only thing standing between these two courageous and hard-working students was transportation.

They were brought to our attention by Echoes of Hope, an organization that helps emancipated foster youth. The charity appealed to us through the Cars 4 Causes® Car Give-Away Program. They were seeking help for two of the youth in their program who had been accepted into college but had no way of getting there.

Here are the students’ stories and why we were thrilled to be able to help:

Truck donation helps Sealy, a straight-A student, go to UCLA

Shealy was a straight-A student in high school (4.06 grade average!). She was in the foster care system for years, but instead of letting the hardships of her life defeat her, she became a track athlete and a model student. She was accepted into the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). But to go to school, she needed reliable transportation. The logistical reality was that without a car, she could not attend.

The kind donation of a pickup truck made the difference for her; she’s now on her way to classes at UCLA.

Car donation helps Darryl, a straight-A student, attend CSULA. Darryl stands beside his car, with his friend who drove him up to pick up the donated vehicle.

Darryl was also a straight-A high school student. His life up to now has also been hard. He was 7 years old when he entered foster care. He describes his early years as “random disorganized disaster.” Darryl made it through a sad and often terrifying youth, and now he is majoring in Sociology at California State University, Los Angeles. He wants to make a difference in the lives of others.

He’s on his way to classes in a donated car, a car that he’ll remember for life as the car that made a difference for him.

The Cars 4 Causes® story began with the desire to help fund the education of young people, and we’re especially happy to share this back-to-school story. It reminds us of what an impact a charitable donation can have on the lives it touches.

To see the variety of ways your vehicle donation can help, check out the Cars 4 Causes® list of approved charities - over 13,400 charities at last count, from international organizations to regional branches, to local community charities.

This year’s annual Ventura Education Partnership SummerFest brought an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 people together for a day dedicated to our kids’ education. And we were there.

The day started off with a 5K run/walk, and ended with all of us tired, a little sunburned, and a lot happy at what we accomplished. In case you weren’t there, the VEP SummerFest is a day-long event of fun, music, healthy foods and physical fitness events. This year, there was a climbing wall, hula hoops, a drum circle, great music, a booth dedicated to birds and another to reptiles. (Just from that, you can see how much fun this was for kids!)

Cars 4 Causes gave away tote bags and flyers and got the word out about Save Our Schools, a section of Cars 4 Causes, a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization, we created to make it easy to donate a car and dedicate the proceeds to the California school of your choice  — our effort to help get arts and music back into the schools.

Cars 4 Causes Ventura Education Partnership SummerFest booth got the word out on the Save Our Schools program.

Our Surprise Speaker

We had a wonderful spokesperson on our SummerFest team, someone who experiences the lack of music and art classes first-hand and is not too shy to talk about it: nine-year-old Becky (see her sitting in the photo here, taken at an uncharacteristically quiet moment).

Becky thrilled us with her enthusiasm, surprised those who stopped at the booth with her articulation of the issue, and humbled us all with her dedication. She was non-stop, and she made a difference.

We’re doing everything we can to live up to Becky’s expectations. We’ve made it easy to donate to Ventura County schools through Save Our Schools, and we’re spreading the word. Our message: Donate a car so your children can experience what you had as a child, music and art in the classroom.

When the State of California recently cut $11.6 billion out of the public education budget, the losers were our young students. Art, music, physical education – all the “extras” — face a high probability of getting cut. What a loss this is!

What can a parent to do to help? We’ve identified a few ways:

• Volunteer for your child’s classroom
• Volunteer for your school PTA
• Donate money to your child’s school

• And we’re adding another: Donate car to your California school of choice.

Donating Cars to Schools of Your Choice

We’ve set up a Save Our Schools section of Cars 4 Causes, a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization, to make it easy for you to donate a car and dedicate the proceeds to the California school of your choice. You’ll receive the same tax benefits as with any car donation, and you’ll be helping your child’s school.

Why We Care

The problem with cutting the arts and physical education programs, as we see it, is

Children learn teamwork and discover new horizons in their arts programs.

that these programs enrich the lives of our children. Gym classes teach team skills (a great predictor of success in corporate life!), and art and music programs broaden our children’s views of life’s possibilities. Who knows what talents our kids will discover within themselves, given the opportunity?

We care about kids and education; in fact, our concerns about education were the reason we originally launched Cars 4 Causes. Now, Cars 4 Causes is the most highly respected  car donation program in the nation, and we think we can lend a hand to help our schools through tough times.

Check out our Save Our Schools section on the Cars 4 Causes Website. Our kids need our help.