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Cars for Kids Vehicle Donation Program in Your Community
Cars for Kids is a car donation charity helping local kids graduate and get their high school diploma since 1992. We are a nonprofit organization with an excellent track record of providing students at risk of dropping out the opportunity to reach their educational goals and create a better life for themselves by earning their high school diploma. This goal is achieved by giving students the tools and resources and that allow them to flourish. Unfortunately, not all kids can function in a traditional classroom setting, and your donation to Cars for Kids provides these kids with the infrastructure and academic setting to be successful.
Donating your car or vehicle to Cars for Kids can truly change lives. In addition to free towing with convenient scheduling options, we offer a $50 gift card as a thank you for your vehicle donation. We accept cars, trucks, vans, boats, motorcycles, RVs, campers, jet skis, forklifts, trailers, or almost any type of vehicle, whether it is running or not.
Why Your Car Donation Matters:
DESTINY'S STORY
My story begins when my mom was 15-years-old. She was raped by my father and that is how I was conceived.
Soon after I was born my mom was diagnosed with postpartum depression.
When I was two weeks old I had trouble breathing and my mom found out I had a tumor in my throat. I had to have surgery to remove the tumor and then was sent home to recover. Not too long after I went home somehow when I was in my crib all my stiches in my neck ripped open. I am thankful my grandmother came to check in on my mother and I because when she did my mother was standing there watching me bleed out and not doing anything to stop it.
I believe my mother was so still so angry and resented me because I reminded her of her rape. My grandma ended up picking me up and holding my head to my body and getting me to the hospital in time.
This was my beginning.
When I was about 3-years-old my mom married my stepdad. They had my little sister and then my little brother.
From as early as I can remember my parents highly favored my siblings.
I remember one time we were back to school shopping at the flea market when I saw the coolest pair of high top Vans I had ever seen. They had checkers and so many bright colors. I had never seen shoes like that before. I picked them up and asked my stepdad if I could have them.
He looked me straight in my eyes and said no, yet he turned to my younger sister and said, “Would you like these shoes?”
It broke my heart so much because I could feel him using my excitement for the shoes against me. It was just another way to make me feel like I wasn’t as important as my brother and sister.
Drugs are another issue that plagues family for as long as I can remember. My mom’s pregnancy with my sister did not even stop her or my stepdad from consuming drugs day in and day out.
His drug of choice was heroin and my mother’s was meth.
The majority of my childhood was spent watching my parents do and sell drugs.
My stepdad became very violent and would beat on me and my mother on a regular basis.
I remember one time he threw my mother through our glass French doors. She landed on the back porch and in the process her two front teeth were knocked out. I saw all of this happen right in front of me. After her teeth were knocked out he would make fun of her all the time.
She became very depressed and tried killing herself in our bathroom. She locked the door and broke the mirror. She eventually let me in and I saw my mother bleeding from her wrists in our bathtub. Somehow my grandparents showed up and were able to get her help and she lived.
You might be thinking, ‘Where was Child Protective Services?”.
They were there actually. My family went through seven CPS cases while I was growing up.
It was basically hopeless though because my parents coached us on what to say to the CPS workers. They would threaten us with beatings if we didn’t say exactly what we were supposed to.
My parents also had us pee in their drug test cups so they wouldn’t be caught testing positive for drugs.
One time we were removed from our house and went to go live with my stepdad’s mother. She was mean herself and also resented me for not being her son’s child. Life with her was just about as difficult as life at home.
The violence between my mom and my stepdad came to a head one day when he showed up unexpectedly at our doorstep. He had been in jail and had gotten out and not told anyone.
He kidnapped my mother that day.
I called my grandparents and they came and got us kids and we went looking for them. Somehow, by the grace of God, we found them at an old motel on the Westside. My grandfather and uncle and the hotel manager broke down the door and we found my mother duct tapped to a chair. I remember the duct tape being so tight her skin was budging out. She was sweating and crying, but we couldn’t understand her because her mouth was duct tapped shut.
He was arrested and sent back to jail.
I wanted a better life, but things kept going downhill.
You see, all of this was happening while I was going to school or trying to go to school.
On the days I didn’t have to stay home and take care of my baby brother because my parents wouldn’t wake up, I would try attend school, but I always had to remember to cover up my bruises and be cautious to avoid questions from adults.
One day I ended up getting arrested and spend three weeks in juvenile detention. One day a school a girl who had been picking on me called me a bastard. See I didn’t know what that meant until a friend told me.
I became so angry. This girl knew my mother had been raped. I got into a physical fight with this girl and caused her to need a few stiches. I guess all my anger just came out that day because I had never been in a fight before.
I was later arrested and found guilty and sentenced to three weeks in a juvenile detention center. However, there was a good thing that came from this bad situation.
I told my entire story.
I told her everything, all the stories I just told you plus so many more I don’t have the time to tell today. This helped me get out of my parents’ house for good. This started the process of me being adopted by my grandparents.
In a way I am thankful for that experience because I was finally able to get help.
I went to two high schools before I found San Antonio CAN. I never felt like I fit it. When I was there I would miss my siblings and worry if they were okay. After the kidnapping incident my grandparents decided to legally adopt me.
I remember I was in class one time and shared with the class that I might be able to go to college since I was adopted I could get grants. The adult in the room asked me in front of the whole class, “Why are you being adopted? You/re parents don’t want you?”
It was like a punch in the gut.
Immediately after finding the Can Academies I didn’t feel lonely. For the first time, my teachers understood and helped me. They made me feel wanted. If it weren’t for them I don’t think I would be graduating. I finally found find the first place where I truly belonged.
My advisor Ms. Simmons and my English teacher Ms. Hatfield made me feel like they understood where I had been and that I was wanted.
If it weren’t for San Antonio CAN I don’t think I would be graduating from high school.
Now my life is different.
Although my mom will always be my mom and I can’t change the past, I can choose what I do moving forward.
My goals are to join the Army after high school and eventually earn a degree in education and come back to teach at the CAN. I want to help students like me find their purpose.
And as for me, I was adopted by my grandparents. My grandparents love me very much. I have a boyfriend who helped me get in my journey to get off meth and I found a great church that I consider a second home.
I am thankful for the Can, my grandparents, my boyfriend and my church. I am also thankful for those of you reading this today.
I found find the first place I felt I truly belonged, San Antonio Can.
I know now that I life of love, faith and hope to look forward to. Thank you for believing in me.
Ashley
She has since worked closely with her teachers and advisors to complete all her credits and is on target to graduate in February 2011, which will be 1 year ahead of schedule.
In conjunction with her high school courses, Ashley is enrolled and taking courses at Tarrant County Junior College, where she will complete her basic requirements and plans on transferring to a University to study Marriage Counseling.
"Ashley has come full circle, she now feels like continuing her education which is very important to her and she has made huge strides" added Mrs. Lewis, Fort Worth Can! Academy Campus Drive Principal.
EDDIE'S STORY
When Eddie grew up with his mother, brother, and sister, a regular family meal was a tortilla with salt for seasoning.
His loving mother worked hard, but making ends meet was almost beyond her. His dad was not in the picture.
One day, Eddie came home from school to find his brother and sister hungry. He couldn’t take the sight of it any longer. “I decided that was enough. Something had to change.”
At fifteen, Eddie left the ninth grade to go to work.
Moving away from his mother and siblings in Arkansas, Eddie began living with his uncle, who had a construction job for him in San Antonio. There, Eddie had no friends. His absence from home was painful. The burden was lightened, however, by knowing that he made enough money to provide food and necessities for his brother and sister.
After some time, a co-worker many years older told Eddie that he saw something in him. “You know, you’re really good at this. But you could be doing much more. Why don’t you go to school? Why aren’t you in school?”
For Eddie, who left that path years before, the thought of graduating high school at twenty-one was far from appealing. But, his co-worker’s words worked on his imagination. He looked online and found Texans Can - San Antonio.
This was, Eddie says, “the best decision I ever made.”
At Texans Can - San Antonio, Eddie found staff and teachers who made him feel cared for—the first time he ever knew that feeling in school. He made friends. And he still worked construction, still sending money back home, while working for his high school diploma.
One day, one of Eddie’s friends, a fellow member on the basketball team, was struck by a car and died. Devastated by the loss, Eddie turned to the abundantly available emotional support from the staff at Texans Can. Through this time, Eddie connected with his math tutor, who became a mentor and friend. Eddie began to enjoy weekends.
“For the first time in my life, I actually got to be a kid.” His heavy responsibilities, he said, faded in those moments.
The impact Eddie’s mentor made on him stays with him to this day. Now, seven years after graduation, Eddie is an award-winning store manager for AT&T, a company he has stayed with since he graduated. He has traveled abroad, and he has purchased his second home. Because of his experiences at Texans Can - San Antonio and the success he has known since, he wants to give back, being a mentor to young men who, like him, have had to go without the love and guidance of a father.
Most important to Eddie is his family. Married with two small children, a six-year-old son and three-year-old daughter, Eddie is grateful that they “will never know what it was like to struggle” as he did. “They will never know the pain of growing up without their father.”
And Eddie is a father figure to more than his children. Thanks to his hard work, his brother and sister were provided for. Both graduated and now, says Eddie, are “doing well,” and they now live in the same Arkansas community. If cousins need equipment so they can enjoy playing on the basketball team, Eddie is ready to provide. The beat of his heart is to be the father he never knew, and the one he found at Texans Can - San Antonio.
The new life he has found through Texans Can, Eddie says, is “truly amazing.”
IGNACIO'S STORY
From high school dropout to high school graduate, Ignacio is now on his way to become a Certified Nursing Assistant.
“Growing up I didn’t really have much. My mom is a single mother of two, I haven't seen my dad in 10 years, but she always tried her best to support us. She worked any and every job she could, like picking tomatoes until she was 7 months pregnant, then moving to a tractor position because her belly was too big to bend down. She has also held construction jobs in downtown Dallas.”
“I was usually home alone so I started to go to my friends for a sense of security that’s why I decided to join a gang. I just started following in my brothers footsteps. I started smoking a lot and doing reckless things.”
After struggling at his previous high school and lacking the sense of support that he craved from the administration, Ignacio decided to drop out. He worked at Dairy Queen for a year and even got offered a managerial position.
“Then one day I realized I didn’t want to disappoint my mom anymore. I didn’t want to do that for the rest of my life.”
“My mom came to this country as an immigrant and I wanted to show her that all her effort wasn't for nothing. That’s why I get up every day and try to do my best.”
So he followed in his brother’s footsteps again, this time for all the right reasons. His brother graduated from Texans Can Academies and his family recommended he do the same if he really wanted to turn his life around.
“Texans Can was my second chance. A second opportunity that you can’t take for granted. Although some people think of this school as a school for all the mess ups, it’s not. The people here are helping us get somewhere, to be someone in life. I’m not afraid to say that I’m from Texans Can.”
“The teachers and advisors here do the most to make sure I’m making the right choices.”
“My advisor Mrs. Randle would text me if I was late to school and even ask if I needed a ride. She’s always there for me trying to get me to school. Especially when I had surgery a month ago and I would be late because I had to go to therapy. She would tell me to go to the PM shift if I couldn't make it that morning.”
“My teacher Mr. Vasquez, even calls me his son. Another advisor Mrs. Machuca offered me two jobs and took me on college visits.”
“They’ve made such a big difference in my life and are always looking out for you. They’re the reason I come to school every day.”
Ignacio has always had a keen sense of ambition. He always knew what he wanted. When he found out about the CNA program offered at the Can Academies, he was eager to get his life back on track, to finally make his mom proud.
“My whole life I’ve always been a little science nerd. It came so naturally to me.”
“When I enrolled here I was actually too late to get in the anatomy class. So I just started reading on my own, about body systems and how they function. It never ceases to amaze me how such an intricate system works together to make up who we are. I’ve always wanted to work in the medical field.”
Ignacio will take his CNA certification in the spring and will be a first-generation college.
“I want to use the CNA program as a step towards my future career, as a foundation to my future. I just really like caring for people. I always think of others before myself.”
“I’m not proud of who I was before, but it’s brought me where I am today. I honestly would’ve never graduated high school if it wasn’t for the Can Academies.”
“I was making good money at DQ or thought I was. It was enough to get me by. I just never had anyone guide me to get to higher places. I’ve always had goals, but never knew how to achieve them.”
“The people here actually help me, they actually care about my life and where I go afterwards. I’ve never had that before.”
ANNA MARIE'S STORY
Her father was an aggressive alcoholic who beat his wife and children on a daily basis.
Her mother would try to escape and run away with the children in an effort to keep them safe, but Anna Marie’s father always found them.
When she was five-years-old, her father strangled her mother with a belt until she lost consciousness, and then he kicked her baby sister across the room.
Anna Marie saved them by calling 9-1-1 and her father was put in jail for a short period of time.
Once again, her family relocated with the hope of starting over without him. Unfortunately every time they tried to escape he would always find them.
So the drunken cycle continued, along with the assaults.
After coming home from middle school one day, she found her mother sobbing in the bathroom from yet another beating. Anna Marie called the police and this time her father was deported.
From then on, pain and anger was the only thing that veiled the hidden burden of her past.
“I was a bad kid when I was younger,” says Anna Marie. “I got in trouble, went to jail, and was ordered to go to behavior class.”
At 15, she became a mother and moved in with the baby’s father. However, he was not supportive of her continuing her education and was not responsible with the baby.
So Anna Marie dropped out of high school.
She then moved back in with her mother and siblings, but her mother gave her an ultimatum: go back to school or go to work.
It was a decision of a lifetime. Anna Marie had watched her brother give up his dream of going to college so he could help support the family, but she knew she wanted more for her life - so she enrolled at Dallas Can Academies.
Anna Marie has been at the Can Academies for two years now and is on track to graduate in 2018.
She says the flexibility of attending the school’s half-day sessions made it all possible.
She didn’t have to choose whether to support her family or get an education.
With guidance from her teachers and advisor, she continues to research colleges with nursing programs. Her goal is to care for elderly patients and to make a better life for her daughter and the rest of her family.
“I’m proud of myself for getting out of a bad situation,” says Anna Marie. “Without Dallas Can, I would not be in school. I would never have gone back.”
Student name has been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.