Kars for kids towers find lots of interesting things in cars
At Kars for kids, we have wonderful towers that pick up Kars for us all over the country. One of them shared an interesting story with us recently.
In operation since 1974, All Auto of San Francisco picks up cars within San Francisco and San Mateo counties. All Auto operates two tow trucks full time, but has a dedicated tow truck owner operator with 15 years of experience in handling car donations. All Auto has seen a lot of interesting stuff left behind in the cars it tows, for instance garage door openers. People leave them in their cars all the time.
All Auto tries to reunite such items with their owners, but has accumulated an entire carton of garage door openers! But the most unusual item ever left behind in a car serviced by All Auto would be a litter of kittens! A litter of kittens! Their eyes still closed, found in a donated car picked up from an industrial yard.
The workers parceled out the kitties to be fed by eyedropper every hour or so. Robert at All Auto said, “I became Kitty Daddy. I was a wild kid. I figured this was payback.”
An ad was placed on Craig’s List to find homes for the kittens.
To learn more about Kars for kids, visit the Kars for kids page.
How do you spell Kars4Kids?
People always want to know; “How do you spell Kars4Kids?”
Is it Kars with a “K” with the word “for”?
Or maybe Kars with a “K” and the number 4.
Or maybe cars with a “C” and the number 4.
Or cars with a “C” with the word “for”.
Or any of those with or without a space between the words.
Kars4Kids, Kars 4 Kids, Kars for kids, Karsforkids, cars4kids, cars 4 kids, cars for kids, carsforkids… Arghh!
It can make your head spin.
We spell it “Kars4Kids”. But you can spell it however you like.
Or the way John Zuchelli @tvzuke did; in Latin 
You ever wonder what the 1 877 Kars for Kids add would look like in Latin? Here you go..MDCCCLXXVII cars pro kids
— John Zuchelli (@tvzuke) February 28, 2013
Pizza For All
Our extracurricular program known affectionately as “ChillZone”, is quickly becoming one of our most popular and fastest growing programs. In fact, last week we opened our 28th location in Bensalem Pennsylvania!
Which brings us to an amazing story about pizza, mentoring and an incredible volunteer.
You see, all ChillZone locations have their own style, flair and feel. The kids and volunteers create the atmosphere that works best for them. But they all share three crucial ingredients; Studying, prizes, and most importantly, PIZZA. Piping hot delicious pizza.
But Bensalem PA had two kids the first week that wouldn’t eat the pizza. Two kids out of eight attending the very first week wouldn’t eat the pizza. Not wouldn’t, couldn’t. Two kids that are allergic to gluten.
Avi Schnall, national ChillZone director, describes what happened next. “The leader of the group, a volunteer mind you, was very concerned that these two boys might feel left out. He home baked a gluten free pizza special for the boys so they could feel part of the group!”
Now you understand why we feel that our volunteers are our most valuable assets. Don’t you agree?
Happy Donors Are So Encouraging
Today we had such a wonderful experience with a donor.
Last year he generously donated his car to us, a 1991 black Nissan NX that he owned for 22 years since he bought it new.
Getting his taxes together this year he realized he’d misplaced his receipt.
So he called us up and we were of course more than happy to help him with a new receipt.
He was so happy that someone responded in such a helpful and timely manner that he decided to donate again! But this time he donated $500!
Customer service is everything sometimes.
Teacher Day At Kars4Kids
This Saturday there must have been something in the school systems water.
A teacher donated a red Pontiac Grand Prix to Kars4Kids because as an educator he wanted to help kids with their education. We were so touched!
An hour later another teacher called to donate a grey Chevy Blazer and said the same exact thing!
We love teachers, and we are so proud that teachers love us!
Your dog ate your what?
A wonderful donor of ours was unable to provide the title for her car.
When asked what happened to it she said that her dog ate her title.
Sometimes real life IS stranger than fiction…
Car donated, and then donated again!
Kars4Kids received a donation in March of 2010. The car was a white 1998 Saturn S-Series, a two door coupe.
The donor told us that the starter was going but the car was running well.
So, of course, we resold it knowing that could be the best way to maximize the donation for our charitable work.
Imagine our surprise when we got a call this month to donate the very same car!
This time it was clear that our wonderful Saturn had taken it’s last drive and it was sent out for recycling.
When it was first donated it had 138,025 miles on it, when we got it the second time it was up to 161,708, a difference of 23683 miles.
One little car doing the work of two!
No, we do NOT trade kids for kars
We often get asked, tongue in cheek, if we will trade one of our cars for a kid. We have addressed this in the past with our Kars For Kids what do you think we do post on Pinterest.
Today on Twitter users @CounterVulture, @WhatJohnThinks, and @RicardoMarano all tried to give us their kids. So we were inspired to post this voicemail that was left for us recently.
We got a real kick out of it, enjoy!
Here we donate again…
It’s not the first time it’s happened, but we think it’s cool every time.
A donor called just a few days ago to donate his car, a ’97 Plymouth Neon. Funny thing was, it had been donated already, back in 2009! Back then, it had only had 88,215 miles on it. The dealer who bought it from us had sold it and now, 3 years and 20,000 miles later, it’s been given to us once again.
Ahh, the generosity of our donors! Just makes your heart grow all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn’t it?
