Charities Supported Archives

Partner Highlight: One Safe Place

Now that we’re in February, the year is really getting underway. We hope your winter has been kind and you are looking forward to a glorious spring (once nature gets around to it)!

As we plan for our new year of redistributing charitable donations, we’re thinking about the good we hope to do this year and the partners that we hope will get us there. As a part of our Partner Highlight series, we’d like to introduce one of the charities your contributions help support: One Safe Place.

One Safe Place describes itself as a comprehensive crime prevention agency devoted to preventing crime and violence in Tarrant County’s neighborhoods, schools, and homes.’ One Safe Place benefits people through public awareness campaigns, bolstering communities with vigilance, and showing empathy for those affected by criminal activity.

One Safe Place bases its premise on the idea that the best path to stopping crime is to prevent crime. It looks to the places where the crime begins and works to eliminate violence and make out communities safer. Here’s just some of the resources One Safe Place has on their website:

Family Justice Center
Crime Stoppers
Imagine No Violence
Camp Hope
Bike Patrol Support Group
Project Safe Neighborhood
Safe City Training

Thanks for reading, and we hope you’ll make use of One Safe Place as much as possible! If you want to buy a donated vehicle, give cash, or present a car to Cars 2nd Chance, now is a great time to share! Having a second look at your garage could inspire you to donate your unused vehicle and help someone recover from a natural disaster or receive food from the Food Bank. Reach out to cars2ndchance@gmail.com to donate a car. We appreciate your love and support!

On another note, our Rotary Club is hosting a Charitable Wine Raffle on March 17, 2022, and you’re invited! Here is our flyer, and we welcome anyone who wishes to attend.

Partner Highlight — Moraga Rotary Club

This month, we’re highlighting the work of another fine partner for Cars 2nd Chance: the Rotary Club of Moraga. They’ve been proudly serving the Moraga community and the world since 1967, and together, we’re doing some real good.

The Moraga Rotary Club helps our organization connect with car donors in their community, through the various groups they interconnect with. In addition, their membership keeps their eyes open for recipients in need of a Cars 2nd Chance hand in their area and nominates families for aid.

Among some of the good works that the Moraga Rotary Club has done in years past includes various disaster relief projects, the opening of kids parks, as well as providing Christmas cheer for kids in the Juvenile Detention system. Their membership works hard to coordinate good efforts with deserving people.

Their president, Brian J, South, holds meetings every Tuesday at noon, in person at La Finestra Ristorante and also on Zoom. The work they do for Moraga is a great reason to contribute. If you’re looking for a reason to join Rotary and volunteer besides the above-mentioned good deeds, Rotary Club of Moraga has 20 more for you.

If you want to buy a donated vehicle, give cash, or present a car to Cars 2nd Chance, now is a great time to share! Having a second look at your garage could inspire you to donate your unused vehicle and help someone recover from a natural disaster or receive food from the Food Bank. First, reach out to cars2ndchance@gmail.com to donate a car that runs, or send an email to clunkers4charity@gmail.com to donate a vehicle that does not run. We appreciate your love and support!

Partner Highlight — San Pablo Rotary club

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Things are just getting better and better at Car 2nd Chance! Today, we’d like to highlight a great partner of ours: the San Pablo Rotary Club!

San Pablo Rotary’s mission is to change the world by supporting worthy causes in the region of San Pablo (and beyond). They are an open community of 21 heroes who engage in large fundraisers to help people and movements that matter. They are also great videographers! Check out their “About Us” video here.

We’re incredibly grateful to have a helping partner like the San Pablo Rotary. Working together, we get to help each other contribute to ideas and causes that positively impact people!

If you want to buy a donated vehicle, give cash, or present a car to Cars 2nd Chance, now is a great time to share! Spring Cleaning and clearing out the clutter could inspire you to donate your unused vehicle and help someone recover from a natural disaster or receive food from the Food Bank. First, reach out to cars2ndchance@gmail.com to donate a car that runs, or send an email to clunkers4charity@gmail.com to donate a vehicle that does not run. We appreciate your love and support!

New Year’s Resolutions Around Charity & Doing Good For Others

Image by Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay

Now that 2020 is behind us and we have moved into 2021, many of us are giving thought to New Year’s Resolutions. For us, our New Year’s Resolutions for 2021 revolve around charity and doing good for others. That is why in this month’s blog, we want to share some ideas we have about giving to others to make the world a better place.

Though many claim that the year 2020 was a dumpster fire of a year, we at Cars 2nd Chance found a silver lining of good coming out of a challenging year. For one, we saw that more people were quickly becoming food insecure during the early months of Covid-19. That is why we were inspired to take the money from car donations and support the Food Bank of Solano and Contra Costa Counties. In 10 months, we have donated $50,000 and pledged $100,000 to the Food Bank to help feed hungry families and individuals within our communities.

We also took the initiative to provide donated cars to families and individuals in need. Some were young couples starting their lives together, while others were disabled or homeless. To see car donations come through that would lend a hand up to those who needed extra support, it warmed our hearts to see that much good coming out of our Cars 2nd Chance program.

We are hoping with all our might that 2021 is going to be a better, more stable, and productive year, but there are no guarantees. Two years ago, we gave donated cars to people who lost their homes in the Paradise Camp Fire disaster. There is and always will be a need to help others facing significant challenges within our community. That is why our New Year’s Resolutions continue to focus on charity and doing good for others. It’s who we are as Rotarians, and that is why we love all the goodness that comes through our Cars 2nd Chance program.

If you are still undecided about what you want to do for yourself and others in 2021, we invited you to resolve to help those in need through Cars 2nd Chance. If you have a car you wish to donate, our donation process is super easy. If you, instead, prefer to donate cash, we are open to that as well. Or, if you find that you are the one in need of help, ask, and we’ll do our part to assist you. When you willingly give, you are likely to get more, due to your generosity.

If you want to buy a donated vehicle, give cash, or present a car to Cars 2nd Chance, now is a great time to share! If you resolve to give more this year, donate your unused vehicle to help someone recover from a natural disaster or receive food from the Food Bank. First, reach out to cars2ndchance@gmail.com to donate a car that runs, or send an email to clunkers4charity@gmail.com to donate a car that does not run. We appreciate your love and support!

Oakland RiteCare Childhood Language Center

Today’s children are tomorrow’s trailblazers, and innovators, and leaders, which makes their education and well-being of vital importance to the continued success of our society. Since 1983, the educational and speech-language therapists at Oakland RiteCare Childhood Language Center (formerly known as the Oakland Scottish Rite Childhood Language Disorders Center) have provided free services to pre-school to high school-aged kids and adolescents. Dedicated to supporting and assisting California’s children, they have invested time, resources, and care into our community’s youth that has improved thousands of children’s lives over the years.

Originally a philanthropy of the Scottish Rite, which is associated with the Freemasons, the Oakland RiteCare Childhood Language Center is one of the 170 Rite Care Centers across the United States. Located at Lake Merritt near downtown Oakland, this organization is a non-profit language and learning center passionate about its childhood language services, scholarships, and other charitable programs. This leading non-profit offers both neuroplasticity-based and reading interventions to children throughout California, as well as traditional speech and language therapy.

With a team dedicated to childhood excellence and growth, the Oakland RiteCare Childhood Language Center’s overarching mission is to help California children develop their full academic potential. They do this by supporting student and professional education and training for the treatment and prevention of childhood language disorders. With services like Interactive Metronome, Fast ForWord, The Listening Program, and traditional speech and language therapy, kids work with educators to improve their speech and language as well as the development of behavioral, social, and motor skills.

If you or someone you know would like to apply for services at the Oakland RiteCare Childhood Language Center, you can learn more about their eligibility criteria and application process here. Additionally, if you would like to donate to this fantastic organization making a difference in so many children’s lives, you can do so here. Your generous donation will help to purchase intervention licenses, assessment and therapy materials, and help to provide these much-needed services to kids in the community. Please share this article with anyone you feel might be interested in applying or donating, and for more information about the Oakland RiteCare Childhood Language Center, check out their website: https://www.oaklandspeech.org/.

Automotive Service Council’s Educational Foundation – New 50/50 Partner

Cars2ndChance, a vehicle donation program operated through the Concord / Clayton Valley Sunrise Rotary chapter is pleased to welcome the Automotive Service Council’s Educational Foundation (ASCEF) as a new 50/50 Partner. Every time a vehicle is donated and ASCEF is selected on our donation form, 50% of the proceeds will go to this local Bay Area non-profit.

The Automotive Service Council’s Educational Foundation is an organization that provides educational and training opportunities, scholarships and endowments in the field of automotive repair and maintenance.

Through the incredible generosity of our donors, ASCEF has been changing the lives of hundreds of students wanting to pursue a career in the automotive field. The funds raised provide scholarships and support sustainable training programs throughout California.

Visit their website to learn more.

Oakland RiteCare Childhood Language Center – New 50/50 Partner

Cars2ndChance, a vehicle donation program operated through the Concord / Clayton Valley Sunrise Rotary chapter is pleased to welcome the Oakland RiteCare Childhood Language Center as a new 50/50 Partner. Every time a vehicle is donated and Oakland RiteCare Childhood Language Center is selected on our donation form, 50% of the proceeds will go to this local Bay Area non-profit.

The Oakland RiteCare Childhood Language Center is a non-profit language and learning center that provides both neuroplasticity-based reading interventions and traditional speech and language therapy.

Their educational and speech-language therapists have provided free services to preschool through high school aged children and adolescents since 1984.

The Center is a philanthropy of the Scottish Rite, a concordant body of the Freemasons, one of 170 Rite Care Centers across the U.S. We are located at Lake Merritt near downtown Oakland.

Visit their website to learn more.

Donation to the First Presbyterian Church of Concord

One of our 50/50 Community Partners, The First Presbyterian Church of Concord (FPCC) received a check for $596, thanks to a car donation by one of their members.

Clayton Worsdell, the President of the Rotary Club of Clayton Valley/Concord Sunrise, and a member of FPCC, presented the check to Pastor Toby Nelson, along with Financial Committee Chair David Stearns, and Mario from D&H Enterprises, the Concord auto repair shop that founded and supports Cars2ndChance.

One of the Bay Area charitable organizations that FPCC helps provide support is the Bay Area Rescue Mission. They provide many services, like providing a hot meal for the homeless and poor, providing drug and alcohol rehabilitation for men, and transitional housing for families and women with children. They reach out to their community in a variety of ways and have recently developed an extensive ministry with children who live in the area.

Our partner: First Presbyterian Church of Concord

We are proud to be partners with the First Presbyterian Church of Concord, who has given so much to our community and continues to look for new ways and new means to help our community and beyond. The First Presbyterian Church Concord is located in downtown Concord near Todos Santos Plaza.

FPCC was the first Protestant church in Concord, founded on October 14, 1882. The years have seen many changes to both Concord and FPCC. During this time FPCC has met in 5 different buildings, and while other churches have moved further out and new churches have been founded in the community, FPCC has remained one of the few downtown churches in Concord.

FPCC helps provide support to the following organizations in order to reach out to our community:

> Young Life – An international Christian youth organization whose primary focus is to reach out to young people who are not part of a local church. Young Life in the Diablo Valley has Young Life Clubs at several high schools and middle schools, but our primary focus is in Concord.

> Contra Costa Interfaith Council – The Interfaith Council provides Chaplains at the various youth detention facilities in Contra Costa County. We contribute towards this valuable service.

> Iglesia Presbiteriana Hispana in Oakland / Premere Iglesia Concord Ministry – This small, but growing Spanish-speaking congregation in Oakland is reaching out to it’s neighbors. We are pleased with the opportunity to share with them.

> Bay Area Rescue Mission – This rescue mission has been in operation for many years in the Richmond area and now their outreach encompasses much of the Bay Area under the leadership of Directors John and Debra Anderson. They provide many services, like providing a hot meal for the homeless and poor, providing drug and alcohol rehabilitation for men, and transitional housing for families and women with children. They reach out to their community in a variety of ways and have recently developed an extensive ministry with children who live in the area.

There are many other missions FPCC is involved, as you can read here. Their continuous work of doing charity without expecting anything in return is what makes us so proud to be their partner. Join us!

Polio: we’re almost there, but not yet.

They say the last 100 yards are the hardest and they are right. Polio has been eradicated for several years in almost all the countries in the word, but there are still a few more battles to win before we can call it a complete victory.

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a paralyzing and potentially fatal disease that still threatens children in some parts of the world. The poliovirus invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. It can strike at any age but mainly affects children under five. Polio is incurable, but completely vaccine-preventable.

Rotary, along with our partners, has reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent worldwide since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979. We are close to eradicating polio, but we need your help. Whether you have a few minutes or a few hours, here are some ways to make a global impact and protect children against polio forever.

In 1985, Rotary launched its PolioPlus program, the first initiative to tackle global polio eradication through the mass vaccination of children. Rotary has contributed more than $1.5 billion and countless volunteer hours to immunize more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. In addition, Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by donor governments to contribute more than $9 billion to the effort.

Today, there are only two countries that have never stopped transmission of the wild poliovirus: Afghanistan and Pakistan. Less than 370 polio cases were confirmed worldwide in 2014, which is a reduction of more than 99.9 percent since the 1980s, when the world saw about 1,000 cases per day.

Rotary has a growing roster of public figures and celebrities participating in its “This Close” public awareness campaign, including Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, action movie star Jackie Chan and peace advocate Queen Noor of Jordan. These ambassadors help educate the public about polio through public service announcements, social media and public appearances.

Join us! Let’s end polio today!