The Cars 4 Causes Blog.

Earlier this week I watched the spirit of charity emerge in a group of sixth graders, and it was worth all the presents under the tree to me. One was my child, the others were friends, and all took part in wrapping gifts for children in need.

The kids, Tyler, Logan and Carley, and moms, Sandy, Patti and Stephanie, all felt the joy that comes from volunteering time, efforts and resources.

The gift program, run by the Ventura County Rescue Mission, is called “The Great Toy Giveaway,” and it’s been going on for over 15 years. The Mission gives away about 3,500 new toys during the holidays, spreading the joy amongst 800-900 families, all of them low-income or families on assistance. The program is funded by the Peter C. Foy Foundation, along with toy donations from Toys 4 Tots and other, local toy drives.

As a mom, I was amazed at the sensitivity and the efforts of all of the volunteer children who came to wrap presents.

But here’s what made my heart burst with an overwhelming joy: The kids with us looked at the piles of gifts all around us as we were wrapping, and said, “This is not enough.” They wanted to give more and they wanted to do more.

We moms encouraged that seed of charity, of course; the next day, we took the kids shopping for presents they wanted to give to the kids at the Ventura County Rescue Mission. And we all went back again to wrap more gifts.

In my work here at Cars 4 Causes® The Charity That Gives To Charities®, I’m surrounded every day by the generosity of people giving through their car donation, yet I am still amazed at the human ability to give so much – and thrilled to see this spirit taking root in my child.

The volunteer kids were a blur, moving fast, putting spirit and energy into wrapping gifts for needy children.

Jonathan Leeper, the Ventura County Rescue Mission volunteer coordinator, tells me that he has children volunteering along with their parents all year long. The kids help serve meals. (The Mission serves 700-900 meals every day.) And the children help clean up the dining room after meals.

The holiday gift-wrapping is one of the most touching for the children, as they see how they can directly help other children who are just like themselves – but not so fortunate.

How wonderful it is to see the growth of charity in the next generation!

Donating a car, volunteering time and donating to a charity – all are wonderfully generous acts. We are so continually awed by the generosity of volunteers. For all these reasons, we were pleased recently to meet a volunteer who gives endless hours of his time and expertise to charity. He also, until recently, donated the use of his car.

Ivan receives a car donation from Cars 4 Causes (R)

Ivan is one of the behind-the-scenes people who make many of the youth programs, major events and Sunday services happen for the AGAPE International Spiritual Center in Culver City, Calif. He designs sets for the group’s events. He makes great use of fabrics, which helps keep costs down.  He finds the fabrics, picks them up, takes them to get fire-proofed, and then creates beautiful sets out of them.

A bonus of his efforts: he inspires other volunteers of all ages to help create the sets. And the result: beautiful, collaborative works of art that inspire the moment and also create a sense of community for one and all.

Donated Car Replaces Used-Up Vehicle

As we mentioned above, Ivan donated the services of his car as well as his own time and efforts. But then his 1984 Plymouth hit the 180,000 marker on the odometer, and it began to cost more and more in repairs. Not only was Ivan buried in repair costs, but he also could not afford to replace the vehicle. Fortunately, AGAPE contacted Cars 4 Causes® and through the Cars 4 Causes® Car Giveaway Program, we were able to find a donated car for Ivan.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of most not-for-profit organizations – from social and health services to environmental causes to religious groups – and we were pleased to be able to help one volunteer continue to give to his cause.

Cars 4 Causes® employees often give of  their time and efforts to their own favorite charities and organizations. For example, employee Haley McSweeney spent a recent weekend volunteering for Habitat for Humanity®, and today’s blog is her firsthand account of the fears and joys of giving to a worthy cause.

After a long, and satisfying, day of hanging drywall, Haley McSweeney (far right) pauses with two friends, Carly (left) and Ilita.

My alarm went off at 6:30 am on Saturday morning, which was way earlier than I (or any college student for that matter) will ever be used to. I was excited, but mostly anxious because it was going to be my first time volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. For those of you unfamiliar with Habitat for Humanity®, it is an ecumenical Christian ministry that builds affordable and sustainable housing for low-income families around the world. I set out for the HFH site, not knowing what to expect.

The nervousness subsided when I reached my destination. I was pleasantly surprised to find that most of the volunteers were actually college students. The rest of the volunteers were either part of a church group or independent like me.

We started with an orientation, said a prayer, and then proceeded to install drywall on the ceilings for the next eight hours. I thought it was pretty ironic that I would get this job, since I’m just barely over five feet tall. We all felt kind of awkward starting out, but we found our rhythm and developed a comradery really quickly. It’s funny how working for a greater cause can do that for people.

As it turns out, I’m not too shabby of a drywaller. I left with a newfound sense of humbleness and satisfaction.  It wasn’t a ‘look what I did’ kind of thing, but a sincere sense of joy that came from knowing that I really had made a difference.

I’m lucky enough to work for a charity that makes a difference in the lives of others every day. I spend my days immersed in a world where people are constantly giving of themselves. One thing I’ve learned is that Cars 4 Causes® employees often volunteer on their own time.

One of our supervisors uses her personal strengths and creativity to help others. She volunteers speaking to women in jail about quitting alcohol and substance abuse, and making a better life for themselves. She’s also raised over $800 from face painting at the Harvest Moon Festival, and donated the proceeds to her son’s elementary school.

Stephanie, another one of our employees, runs a ministry called Personal Touch. The ministry is an outreach program that helps people feel more welcome when they first come to church when they might feel like an outcast otherwise.

Volunteering at Habitat for Humanity® was a truly rewarding experience, and I encourage everyone to serve when you can. Make a car donation today!

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.

Tom Fick, a former naval lieutenant and a longtime member of the Television Academy’s nonfiction peer group, put 2 and 2 together and came up with 120,000. That’s 120,000 DVDs sent each year to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and to wounded members of the armed forces rehabilitating in military hospitals.

Tom Fick, Project Hollywood Cares, with the donated car he received through Cars 4 Causes

We were amazed. He certainly proved to us what a difference an individual can make. His original brainstorm was to collect the “for your consideration” movies sent to members of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for Emmy Award viewing and to forward them to our armed forces.

Building a New Organization

Fick started Project: Hollywood Cares out of his garage, spending the first several months acquiring the permissions needed to re-distribute DVDs intended for screenings only. He was successful, with Hollywood pros at all levels responding and helping him further the cause.  Since then, the motion picture and music industries have joined Project: Hollywood Cares, too. And thousands of military personnel have been able to sit back and enjoy a bit of home while far away from home. (Click here to read a news story about troops receiving Project: Hollywood Cares packages.)

Project: Hollywood Cares is an all-volunteer organization, and it is constantly on the road picking up donations, shipping them, visiting hospitals, and sometimes presenting video libraries to stateside military bases, Navy ships and military hospitals.

The young organization, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit corporation, came to Cars 4 Causes seeking any help we could provide. A car “would be of invaluable assistance,” Fick said. In the current economic downturn, though his group is overwhelmingly successful in procuring donated items, fund-raising is tight, and they desperately needed transportation. We were pleased to be able to help with a donated car, a Honda Accord, to help keep those morale-boosting movies going to the troops. Learn how to donate car today!