Donate Your Car Today! You Can Build The Road To A New Life
When you donate your old car to Wheels 4 Hope, we turn it into a real blessing for someone in this community. We fix it up and turn it into safe, reliable transportation that can turn a family’s life around.
My involvement with Wheels4Hope
started about two years ago i was in a
organization called step up ministry
when i was 23
i thought it was cool today at the drug
dealer when i was young and i was
incarcerated for 20 years
so i spent most of my life in prison
didn't know how to do anything
didn't know how to be a woman basically
i was two weeks pregnant when i got
locked up and i didn't know it
so i have a 22 year old son my mom
raised him
and um so when i got out i just i had to
learn how to do everything i
had to learn how to be a woman how to
cook for myself and
you know do all the things that an adult
does that i didn't know how to do
um you might think that even though i
was in prison i still aged
mentally you don't age because your life
stops so when i got out of prison in
2017
i got involved in a ministry called step
up
which taught me how to budget and all
that type of stuff well a part of the
program was if you complete the program
you're able to come to an organization
called wheels for hope
and get a car a vehicle and you had to
budget your money
and you had to do everything just right
in order to get this car
which was you know important for someone
like me was important
for anyone in that organization so we
worked hard towards that
so i got my money right i budgeted i got
a great job
um when i got out of prison at the green
chair project which was a blessing which
also is a
partner of this organization so i'd
already heard about wills for hope
so it was something i wanted to be in
and when i got my money situation right
um i was able after i'd been in step up
for like six weeks
and i had the money that was required
for the um wheels for hope i was able to
come here and go to their class
and receive a vehicle i don't know where
i'd be without it
honestly you know i wouldn't be able to
get back and forth to work um the bus
stop line is not where i live so i
wouldn't have had a way back and forth
to work
so it was really important for me to be
able to get in wills for hope
wheels for hope played the rebirth of my
life by giving me the ultimate freedom
because the ultimate freedom to me all
those years was being able to drive and
being able to
see life plus i have to support myself
you know i don't have anybody to help me
so wheels for hope provided me that
transportation
which provides me a job you know it's
easy for people to say get a job get a
job but if you don't have a way to that
job
or to a doctor's appointment or to see
your children
if you don't have a vehicle you don't
have a way to get there
and you don't have you can't always call
somebody say hey will you take me here
because
people don't have time for that you know
you can't feed yourself because you
don't have a way to get groceries
the experiences i had trying to get
groceries while on the bus
you know just you can't get anything
frozen you have to get just the basic
staples because
it is a two-hour bus ride or you hope
that you can maybe pay somebody to take
you
to the grocery store just so you can get
milk or things that are going to spoil
you don't have a way to go to the doctor
you know you don't have a way to live
without a vehicle and and it is
important it's
that that is one of the that's is as
important as a place to live
because if you don't have a car and a
job you don't have a place to live
getting out of prison after 20 years
driving
is the one thing is that's the ultimate
freedom that's the ultimate freedom for
us because you're able to go see things
that you didn't get to see
and you know just see life and that is
the ultimate freedom
you know i know people judge people that
have been in prison but we're all we're
not all bad people
we make mistakes you know and we we get
out and we we fix ourselves and we
we learn from our mistakes you know and
it helps when people are here to help
us because we don't know how to do
things that normal people learn how to
do
so we need help we need people like
wills for hope they don't just provide
us with the car
it's not just the car that they provide
you with they provide you with
the um the self-esteem to make you know
that you're worth
having this car and that you're worth
somebody helping you
and um the car is important but that
part of it just
the worth that they give you the
self-esteem to feel good about yourself
that means more than just a car it
really does
when i walked in there they made me feel
like a real person
which a lot of people don't they don't
do that they don't they don't make us
feel worth it
and um it was a blessing to me it
changed my life
because everybody needs help and nobody
realizes that there's people like me out
there
we need help we need that helping hand
you know you might not like us and when
you read my when you read my record i'm
ugly i'm back
i'm really ugly on paper but once you
meet me
i'm not that person that i was when i
was 23
i wasn't that person anyway but
i changed so much in prison and god
changed my life so much that
[Music]
i'm just not that person and i do
deserve a second chance
and i did get a second chance to these
non-profits that helped me
the first thing i did when i got out of
prison was i had my mom to take me to
zebulun to get my license
that's the first thing that i wanted to
do besides seeing my family that goes
without saying
but the first thing i did and wanted to
do was drive
it's the ultimate freedom
it is the ultimate freedom
Here’s How It Works
Give us a call. If you’re in the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) area, dial 919-832-1941. For the Triad (Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point), 336-355-9130.
We’ll pick up your car and take care of all the paperwork.
One of our partners will make all repairs and perform all maintenance required to make it a safe and reliable vehicle. If yours is a higher-value vehicle that is not practical for lower-income families (e.g. Mercedes, BMW), we will sell it and use the proceeds to buy two or more less expensive cars.
- We will select a recipient from a list of local people provided to us by area non-profit organisations.
- Your vehicle will be sold to the recipient for $500 plus tax.
- The recipient will take possession at a Car Blessing event — and you are invited to attend!
Why Donate Your Car To Wheels 4 Hope?
It’s Personal
You make a direct contribution to improving a neighbor’s life.
Your Gift Grows
After we perform the necessary maintenance and repairs, the vehicle your neighbor receives is worth more than the vehicle you gave.
You See The Impact
We encourage all donors to attend the Car Blessing for their vehicle, so that you can see your neighbor start down the road to a better life.
It’s Tax Deductible
If your vehicle is placed as one of our program cars — or sold to purchase more program cars — you can claim a tax deduction equal to its fair market value.