CARS 4 JEFFERSON CITY
DONATED CAR PROGRAM
RAC CLIENT RECEIVES CAR, NON-PROFIT GET LOOK AT NEW PROGRAM
Cars 4 Columbia donated car program, met with the public at the United Way of Central Missouri offices late Thursday morning. He delivered a car--a 2010 Pontiac G6--intended for a Rape and Abuse Crisis Service client and shared details of his organization with area nonprofits. Like its Columbia counterpart, his latest effort, Cars 4 Jefferson City, is intended to serve transportation-challenged low-income residents and families in Cole County. Through nonprofit partners, the program gives access to donated vehicles to help resolve personal transportation issues. It may also repair the nonprofits' clients' vehicles.
The organization could replace a service a Jefferson City-based nonprofit once offered. For most of the past decade, Working Wheels for Working Family has provided gently used vehicles to families in Cole County free of charge. Working Wheels began its work--taking in donated cars and reconditioning them in 2013. The Car Guys, a repair shop at 406 Monroe St., made necessary repairs to the vehicles, and clients would pay what they could afford for them.
But in 2020, following the sudden death of Lorie Smith, the nonprofit's director, Working Wheels disappeared from public view. State records show the organization officially dissolved in July 2021, leaving a potential need in Jefferson City. Ann Bax, president of the United Way of Central Missouri, said Thursday her organization was surprised to learn Working Wheels had closed its doors. It was a reliable, helpful nonprofit to which the United Way had issued grants (which helped with operations) over the years. Transportation has been a great need in Jefferson City for years, and remains a great need, Bax said. The United Way on Thursday was trying to help Conway build relationships with several of its partner agencies, or to connect with Jefferson City resources. "Transportation is an identified barrier (to steady employment), "Conway told more than a dozen listeners. "People work extremely hard just to get a job, then get fired because they can't get to work."
Cars 4 Jefferson City puts people back on the road
by Mavis Chan | September 23, 2023 at 9:57 a.m.
Julie Smith/News Tribune Josh Remus, background, goes over last-minute mechanical checks with Anthony E. Conway on Friday as they prepare to donate the car to an individual. Remus is in charge of vehicle maintenance at Cars for Columbia, a company owned by Conway. They found a recipient in Jefferson City who qualified for and needed a vehicle and met them Friday at the United Way office to deliver it.
After saving up for months, a client at the Jefferson City-based Rape and Abuse Crisis Service finally bought her own car.
The sale happened in a brief ceremony Friday morning at United Way of Central Missouri, 205 Alameda Drive. The seller was Caring Cars Used Auto Sales, a dealership based in Columbia.
The company operates the programs Cars 4 Columbia and Cars 4 Jefferson City, which aim to provide vehicles to low-income residents in the area at a lower price or for free, program director Anthony Conway said.
The car he sold Friday was a 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt with 111,000 miles on its odometer, he added. Although it has a market value of around $4,000, the program sold the vehicle to the domestic violence shelter's client for a significantly lower price.
"She only had $2,500 to spend," Conway said. "In order to get her into a better vehicle, we just ate the rest of (the cost). Fortunately for her, she had been saving for a car for a while."
He had been in conversation with the buyer for around five months, he added, where she would update him on how much she had saved for the car.
There are several components to the car program, including a part where it donates cars to people who cannot afford any car, as well as a part where it sells others at a discount, Conway said. This initiative expanded to Jefferson City in 2022, he said.
Although Cars 4 Jefferson City required the RACS client to purchase the car Friday, it has donated two cars free of charge to local community organizations, including one to the domestic violence shelter. Meanwhile, the Stop Human Trafficking Coalition of Central Missouri has bought several cars from the program to give to its own clients, Conway added.
The Columbia dealership's initiative also offers car repairs at reduced prices. So far, the program has fixed about 35 cars in Jefferson City, he said. Since the project does not have a location in the city as of now, its maintenance director (a local resident) usually conducts on-site inspections and repairs.
"The program is designed to serve the entire community of (Jefferson) City eventually. Because it's a new program, of course, we're not there yet," Conway said. "It's up to the organizations to determine whether they have clients that can utilize our services."
Cars 4 Jefferson City is the only program the shelter is aware of that will provide vehicles to its low-income clients with transportation needs, Libby Hafley said. Hafley is the nonprofit's director of outreach and advocacy.
"This is the only one that we have been able to find around here," she said.
Cars are a big need for the shelter's clients even after they move out, Hafley added, for a variety of purposes such as going to counseling provided by the nonprofit, going to their jobs, going to court hearings and doing other tasks.
"It really just gives them that freedom to go on and live their lives," she said. "A lot of times when we get people into the shelter, they have left (their homes) with the clothes on their back. They don't have anything."
Note:
Cars 4 Jefferson City is a new Cars 4 Missouri Donated Car Network program that is currently under development. As of October, 2023 the program has donated 3 vehicles, repaired 35 vehicles and sold 10 used vehicles to Jefferson City and Cole County residents. The success of the program will be determined by the support it receives in the community.