Tribute Tuesday: Charity Begins With You - It's about AWARENESS

Tribute Tuesday is to honor charities, charitable groups and those who go above and beyond for their charities.


I wanted to stress the "HONOR" in the above statement. I have noticed a low to no comment response on these posts and I want to stress to you that I am not soliciting money for these charities and this post is not "designed" for that. This is an "awareness" post to let you know what charities and charitable groups are out there, what they are doing and why they are doing it. Yes, they will take donations, obviously, but, please, don't "stay away" because of misconceptions. I'll share with you then, now or later, if this charity or charitable group "fits your needs", you'll know where to go and what to do.



For those of you who know me, you know that I spend a lot of time on twitter. Through twitter, I have met most of my "nominees" for "Tribute Tuesday". I watch their posts, determine what the "cause" is doing, make sure it is legit and then contact the spokesperson with a request to be featured here. This week's "Tribute Tuesday" really fascinated me and, I must say, I had to really "eyeball" it. I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. I had heard mention of something similar, but, again, just didn't understand how it'd work.

I introduce you to Cars4Causes:



Cars4Causes

If you can donate it, we can make it work!

Cars 4 Causes® was formed on the idea that kids deserve extra money to fund tutoring programs. Kids deserve all the help they can get. We have been growing the idea ever since. Once we started funding educational programs, other charities began asking us why can't you fund this, or help with that?

Answer: We can!

Cars 4 Causes® , to date, has donated over 20 Million dollars to over a million charities and is still going strong. In addition, we also give away our very best cars to people in need through other charities. In today’s economy, there is a great need, and a waiting list for these give-a-way cars.

"I have to say when I was a Cars 4 Causes® employee,(before becoming their SM consultant), I loved the give-a-way days the best. Seeing the recipient of a car come through the office, sometimes receiving a grateful hug, and watching them drive into their future knowing I had, in some small way, improved their life and circumstances made me so happy. Having a reliable car makes life so much easier."

The cars we don’t give are refurbished and sold as affordable transportation, and a percentage of the sale is then given to charity or recycled and taken off the road. Many thousands of gross polluters and gas guzzlers are taken off America’s roads each year thanks to Cars4Causes.

"I feel good about this from an Earth-friendly perspective."

How YOU Can Help

Everyone has a car, don't they? What is the best way to fund your favorite charity? Donate your car!

"The coolest thing about Cars 4 Causes® (I think)is that they first of all, gave me a job, and second, gave a way for EVERYONE to help their favorite cause with a big-ticket donation."

The donor who donates to Cars 4 Causes® also gets a tax write off from the IRS for their efforts. This year’s Stimulus bill may also provide an additional write-off as well.

"I have been affiliated with Cars 4 Causes® for nearly 4 years. Where I used to live in Southern CA , the name was already familiar to me. I was very excited to work for them because I just liked the idea of a family run, non-profit, whose mission was to help other charities raise funds. I began taking donations from the 800 line, and eventually began to train new employees and assist the Operations Coordinator with Best Practices and improving the process for the donor. We have truly tried to make the donation process easy for the donor and, as our many repeat donations and word of mouth referrals will attest, have largely succeeded. I was promoted to Supervisor of the Donations Dept. until I was asked to take over writing blogs, and all things SM for the charity. Being a writer in my “other” life, I jumped at the chance and spent several months doing this work, which I loved, until my hubby and I made the choice to “retire” in Oregon at the end of 2008. I asked the President of Cars 4 Causes®, Patti Kennedy, to think of a job I could do from my living room, in the snow, and she and her Board came up with my current position as Social Media Consultant and off-site Tweeter! I love talking about the good you can do by donating to Cars 4 Causes®. They are an honest, philanthropic group, whose only focus is to get more money to the charities they serve."

We believe that charity does begin with you. Each person has to make that choice.

There are several reasons that people donate to us: To help a certain cause, to get a tax break, or simply, to get that eyesore off their driveway. Once that choice is made, there are far-reaching implications that the donor often is not even aware of.

That car they have decided wasn’t worth fixing could end up being the one thing that makes employment possible for someone. It could mean that someone has access to medical care or educational opportunities they just didn’t have before they were mobile. The car that is donated could be the turning point in someone’s life.

In one case; a donated van meant to raise funds for a local community center ended up being given to a burn center hospital and sent to the war zone in Afghanistan to transport wounded soldiers and children for medical treatment. What an impact that donation made! There are many such stories. I hope you read this and think again how a car donation can help. Just making the decision opens a whole world of possibilities.


Our Exec Director Ms. Pat Jessup and Representative of Grossman Burn Center with the Afghanistan van.



Thanks so much to Lagean for asking me to write this post. I appreciate the opportunity to inspire people to give more. I feel that is my mission in life. I also work with Charity Development as their SM Consultant.

You can follow me on Twitter at @cars4causes or @charitydev.

My email is vcurtis@cars4causes.net, to donate a vehicle, truck, boat, motorcycle or RV: http://www.cars4causes.net

Cars 4 Causes ® Car Donation

Mr. Linky is here if you would like to post a link to your own Tribute Tuesday or you may also nominate the charities of your choice by giving me their link, once done, enter a comment telling me that you nominated them and give me your contact information. I will then contact them, collect the information needed and feature them. I will place links to your blog and let people know that you are the one honoring them.