Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Targeting Your Gift Giving to Veterans With the Purple Heart Car Donation Program

When you've got an extra car or truck lying about with nothing to do, perhaps you can assist a veteran and her or his family through the Purple Heart Car Donation Program. Especially in a time of apparently unending war, it is easy to make the case that every American owes a veteran and most especially those who've been injured in the line of duty.



One could also make the argument that programs such as the Purple Heart Car Donation Program are necessary because federal officials aren't doing a very good job of taking care of the veterans that it keeps pledging to do a better job of fixing up. However, veterans groups have rarely felt very well taken care of, so the need for charitable programs has always been a part of veteran life.



Given how the cost of insurance (that veterans are not automatically entitled to) keeps going up for veterans and everyone else, it's no wonder that there is so much work to be done by the Purple Heart Car Donation Program and other veterans' groups. Indeed, the amount of money paid for the demonstrably sub-standard care given at some Veterans' Administration (VA) hospitals, has been something of a national scandal since the first Gulf War in the early 1990s.
Learn more @ yourcardonation.com



So, it may surprise you that an old car or truck may be donated to the Purple Heart Car Donation Program without even leaving your pajamas. From their website, you may fill in all the pertinent information that will allow someone to call and arrange a time for pickup.



The Purple Heart Car Donation Program differs from many programs in that it doesn't necessarily just sell your vehicle on the open, wholesale market as many online donation services do. In this case, they run their own, non-profit pick up, delivery and repair services. Also, unlike many other services, you're allowed to drive your running car up to their offices for donation.



There are many good, charitable outreach missions supported by proceeds generated from the Purple Heart Car Donation Program. For instance, some of the better cars are used to assist veterans in getting to their medical appointments. Sometimes monies are used to help families get on their feet during war time, or to even help purchase a prosthetic limb better than the most basic models that are covered by veterans' insurance, despite the high fees charged for such coverage.



That organizations such as the Purple Heart Car Donation Program are even necessary is a surprise to many who have, perhaps rightly, assumed that the federal government was indebted to soldiers wounded in the line of duty. However, the sad fact is that once a medal has been awarded, injuries that may have changed a soldier's entire way of life are not considered the government's problem once the soldier has been discharged.



Consider the recent increases in massive head injuries during the second Gulf Wars. Though bake sales and fund raisers across the country have been trying to send after-market head protection to soldiers serving, it would seem that money that should be spent keeping people safe is being diverted. The Purple Heart Car Donation Program isn't currently sending body armor to Iraq and Afghanistan, it does support medical testing and helping veterans afford their medications.



That said, the prognosis for those with brain injuries isn't very good. For this reason, charities such as Purple Heart Car Donation Program have been stepping in and giving the young spouses of severely injured veterans the skills to help care for them when the VA can't.



It is also notable that though the current Gulf Wars have not had a very high mortality rate, by the usual accounting, the flip side of that is a very high proportion of troops that have been injured in the line of duty – many of them to be sent back into action. Though the Purple Heart Car Donation Program is only a drop in this bucket, the lives it has touched have keenly felt its presence.

An Overview of Childrens Charities That Benefit From Used Vehicle Donation

Despite recent rulings that have changed the way deductions from used vehicle donation are valued, there are still any worthwhile charities that can still use either your vehicle or the cash it can be sold for. Many of these charities focus on the needs of children and their families.



For instance, one type of children's charity that benefits from used car donation are those that serve children with medical conditions. This can be anything form cancer, to blindness to end of life care. Organizations such as the Make a Wish Foundation and the National Children's Cancer Society are able to use the cars donated to go about their work or sell them for the money that can then be donated as cash support, necessary medical equipment or prescriptions.



Sometimes a used vehicle donation is used in the case of Children's medical charities as a way for a disadvantaged child's parents to reliably get them to a variety of medical appointments. Cars that are used directly have the advantage of being able to be deducted at their fair market value rather than the sale price of such a vehicle sold at wholesale auction.
Learn more @ yourcardonation.com



Since medical charities are often cash-strapped (rather than lacking for volunteers), you will find that a great many of the ads for used vehicle donation representing these types of charities. Such a fast and high turnover of vehicles, dealt through third-party agents are common when these types of charities utilize used car donation. Partly this is due to it being hard not to feel moved to do something while looking at a kid in a wheelchair, but also, because the need is very great.



Indeed, it's not just a few families that have been cast into poverty because of a single childhood illness in the United States. Other countries, of course, don't have quite such problems thanks to universal medical coverage for all citizens. Unless that happens very soon, the problem seems here to stay. An entire industry of old car parts and scrap metal has arisen from this lapse in the social contract, in an apparently perfect example of privatization of such usually governmental obligations.



Another type of charity that can benefit from used vehicle donation include those that serve “at-risk” youth. Charitable non-profit organizations (NPOs) like the United Way function to keep children off “the streets” where they might be tempted into a life of crime. Many of their programs addresses issues of education, as well as after school programs and self-esteem building projects.



Since their inception in the 1960s, such charities tend to focus on urban areas and as such, are generally less in need of automobiles for direct use. However, because the needs of the programs are highest in suitable volunteer labour department, a used vehicle donation has the advantage of going a long way with such missions.



A business that regularly employs used vehicle donation to turn over a fleet of vehicles (such a taxi or courier services) could even set up a college fund though one of these organizations. Though many of these charities suffer from the fate of such youngsters as being more of a choice than children stuck in wheelchairs, so donations can severely lag in these organizations from year to year.



Some charities that serve a religious mission also serve children. The Salvation Army, for instance, has a religious base though it often serves very needy children though helping them and their parents find lodging for the night or with donations of clothing or furniture. Some charitable organizations serve the children of a given congregation alone.



Religious organizations do not typically solicit automotive donations with quite the same vigour as do charities that serve special needs children who are suffering from developmental disabilities or birth defects, though there certainly are exceptions.