Vehicles for Change Inc. (VFC) empowers families with financial challenges to achieve economic and personal independence through our car awards program.
HOW IT WORKS Donations Vehicles are donated through the generosity of individuals, as well as partnering corporations and nonprofit organizations. Once an individual or organization chooses to donate a vehicle, they will be contacted by a towing company, who will pick up the car within a week. We make any necessary repairs, handle all tax deductions, and deliver the vehicle to a family in need. Donating to Vehicles for Change is easy, convenient, and effective - your donation will have a direct impact on the families we serve. Repairs After donation, Vehicles for Change determines if the car is repairable (keeper) based on the general condition, mileage, year, and make of the vehicle. Those deemed not repairable are sold at auction. Keepers are mechanically reviewed and repaired in the VFC garage, and then provided to a family in need. Tax Deduction If your car is in good condition and can be awarded to one of our worthy families, you will receive the fair market value of your car for tax deduction. VFC is the one - if not the only car donation program in MD and VA - that can allow you to deduct the fair market value of your car. The average Kelly Blue Book value of cars awarded to recipients is $4,200. Drive Change. Donate Today.
Hi, I'marty Schwartz, President and Founder of Vehicles for Change. Vehicles for Change is a 22-year-old non-profit that was established to address the issue of transportation for low-income families. Vehicles for Change accepts donated cars, repairs them, and then identifies families who need a car to get to and from employment to escape poverty. 22 years ago, transportation was identified as the n Unfortunately today, 22 years later, transportation is still one of the main barriers to employment for those families living in impoverished neighborhoods. The challenge of alleviating poverty begins and ends with transportation. Even a family who has a skill, education, drive, will never escape poverty without access to transportation. Providing a car to every family living in poverty is not the only answer, but it is a key part of the solution and certainly has had great impact on the families that we serve. The majority of our recipients are single parents with two to three children. It is virtually impossible to navigate life without a car as a single parent. Getting to work, daycare, doctor's appointments, and after-school activities is a daunting task for a single parent with a car. It is nearly impossible for a single parent without a car. I discovered Vehicles for Change several years ago as a recipient, a mom of four young children. I think I had been without an actual vehicle for about seven years. At the time, I was an office manager for an outpatient mental health center. My transportation in the morning, my trek involved dropping a few off at daycare, having to get on a second bus to get to my place of employment and then walk. In the past, any cars that I had were a very late model, hanging on by a string. We just used it out of necessity. But being able to pick my kids up from school in that nice, shiny minivan with automatic doors and a seat for everyone, it was amazing. It was just amazing. I didn't expect to come back through here as an employee, but starting an ad, I thought, I'm sure that it would be awesome to work there. When a family receives it, it's brand new to them. It opens up so many opportunities that we never think about. Simply just to travel out of state. Some people have never been out of this state. And so just to think about those small opportunities, yeah, we think about the jobs, we think about the health, we think about the food, and that's all great. Think about taking a vacation. Some people are not able to take a vacation. Think about taking your children to Hershey Park. It just opens up so many other things. It not just opens up doors and opportunities. It opens up our minds. It is very exciting to watch the beginning of a journey. Vehicles for change were awarded more than 7,000 cars to families in Maryland, Virginia, and Michigan. And yet we have barely scratched the surface of the need just in our own region. In Baltimore, there are nearly 60,000 low-income households without a car and without access to public transportation to get to a job. These are 60,000 households that will never escape poverty until we can alleviate the transportation issue. Vehicles for change is always looking for new and innovative ways to resolve this issue.
