Car Donation Part of A Veterans Day Fundraiser

Did you know that there are over 20 million war veterans in the US?

I had no idea until our teacher told my class. That was before she told us that this year, for Veterans Day, our school was going to have a huge garage sale fundraiser and the proceeds would go towards helping war veterans through the non-profit organization, the National Veterans Services Fund (NVSF).

Both my mother and my aunt were on my school’s fundraising committee, so my cousins Gail and Christine and I knew we’d be expected to help. Still, this fundraiser would be different. It wasn’t about getting new basketball hoops for the school gymnasium. This was a real charity fundraiser- a first for our school. It was also the first time I’d heard about making a car donation to charity.

The fundraiser was going to be held in the school gym and under tents in the parking lot. The local bakery would provide goodies and the teachers would serve coffee, tea and juice. For a Veterans charity event, it was beginning to sound like fun.

Gail, Christine, and I went door to door to give out information flyers and to tell people when and where to drop off donations. Our parents coached us on what to accept for charity donations. We knew that appliances had to be in working order. Clothing donations had to be clean and labeled with the correct size. Most of it was common sense - nothing we couldn’t handle.

However, I was really surprised when I knocked on Mrs. Clayton’s door. Mrs. Clayton happens to be one of the ladies on the school committee and she informed us that she wanted to donate a car to charity. I couldn’t really say much because I didn’t know if that was against the rules or not! I was relieved when she said, “Don’t worry, Kim, I’ll take it up with your mother.”

When I got home, I told my mom what Mrs. Clayton had said. Mom replied that she’d heard about donating a car to charity, but she’d have to look into it more. That’s the last I heard about the car donation for a while.

In fact, the week before our Veterans Day fundraiser, I saw my mom very little as she was pretty busy. She did get me to make a big poster to be placed on Mrs. Clayton’s car donation.

Mom had discovered a car donation service company through the Internet called Easy Donate a Car. This was a company specifically designed to handle veteran car donations on behalf of the National Veterans Services Fund. I included all the details on the fundraiser poster, just in case someone else had an old car and wanted to make a car donation.

I brought the poster to school the next day. The secretary was showing me where to post it, when Mr. Windermere, the school principal asked to see it. He said it was a great poster. Smiling, he mumbled something about Mrs. Clayton’s car having company that day.

My school’s first ever Veterans Day charity garage sale was a huge success. Not only did we raise lots of money for a good cause, but Mrs. Clayton and Mr. Windermere both made a car donation on behalf of the National Veterans Services Fund!

Kimberly H.