Write off the car, not the kid! ®
Donate today and receive a $50 VISA gift card!
Easy process, towing is FREE and your donation is Tax Deductible.
Donate your vehicle in seconds.
The process is easy, the towing is FREE and your donation is Tax Deductible.
By submitting this form you consent to receiving communications via phone, sms, and email. Subject to our Privacy Policy.
Cars for Kids Vehicle Donation Program
Cars for Kids is a car donation charity helping local kids graduate and get their high school diploma since 1992. We are a nonprofit organization with an excellent track record of providing students at risk of dropping out the opportunity to reach their educational goals and create a better life for themselves by earning their high school diploma. This goal is achieved by giving students the tools and resources and that allow them to flourish. Unfortunately, not all kids can function in a traditional classroom setting, and your donation to Cars for Kids provides these kids with the infrastructure and academic setting to be successful.
Donating your car or vehicle to Cars for Kids can truly change lives. In addition to free towing with convenient scheduling options, we offer a $50 gift card as a thank you for your vehicle donation. We accept cars, trucks, vans, boats, motorcycles, RVs, campers, jet skis, forklifts, trailers, or almost any type of vehicle, whether it is running or not.
Why Your Car Donation Matters:
HILLARY'S STORY
Imagine growing up not knowing where you would get your next meal from or where you would be able to sleep safely each night. It’s unimaginable for most of us. But it was reality for Hillary.
At the age of two-years-old, Hillary was taken from her mom and placed into Child Protective Services and was transferred from foster home to foster home.
Today, she’s 19-years-old and on her way to graduation with her 9-month-old baby girl.
“It’s been hard for me going from shelter to shelter and in and out of foster care. When I finally thought things were getting normal, people want to adopt me and then they don’t. It’s hard on you.”
Hillary was always in search of her ‘forever home,’ but when you are forced to live with strangers, you never know what each day has in store.
“I finally gave up on trying to get adopted and just stuck with being in foster care. I accepted the fact that I would be there until I was 18. So I ran away, like every other teenager does.”
The lack of control that comes from being a foster child caused continual insecurity for Hillary. She believed it was normal for a teenager to run away from home.
After running away, the endless battle for stability continued; she became pregnant.
“I knew I wasn’t going to be able to take care of the baby, but I didn’t want to end up like my mom and lose my daughter. At that point I didn't think I was going to finish school either, but then at the shelter where I was living, I was told about Texans Can.. I was finally determined to do better and be better. I didn’t want my daughter growing up thinking it’s okay to not finish high school because her mom dropped out. I want her to think ‘my mom did it, I can do it too.’
“On my first day at the school, I thought it was all good vibes. I was welcomed by the advisors, the principal, and some of the teachers, too. I was really happy. I went from ‘I don’t know if I want to do this’ to ‘I think this is going to be a good experience.’
It was life changing because a lot of kids drop out of regular high schools and they don’t come back.
Texans Can was actually like a home when I was there. I had classes with most of the teachers there. And they truly want to see everyone graduate and do something with their lives.
The learning processes are even a lot different from other schools. Marquez Reading helps us listen and understand material. A lot of the kids begin here and don’t know how to read, but with Marquez Reading we are able to learn. It also helps us bond with each other and the teachers.
I use those skills all the time now, including those listening skills. Other schools are loud and people are always skipping class. At Texans Can people check up on you and make sure you’re okay. The classrooms are also a lot quieter and you don’t get distracted.
When you walk in there’s always someone there to greet you. It’s very different, a good different.
Being here has changed me a lot.
I know if I was with my mom today, I wouldn’t be the person I am. I would probably be out in the streets doing some horrible things.”
Today, with her 9-month-old daughter clinging to her side, she will walk across the stage at graduation. Hillary is determined to change the cycle she grew up with, and in doing so, changing the future for her daughter as well.
“Right now I’m still living in the placement I am in for the next couple of weeks. I plan on moving to Fort Worth, getting my own apartment, and taking classes online. In the future, I want to become a therapist or counselor at a shelter so I can help other people get through life.”
Hillary has learned to motivate herself with the desire to help others despite her hardships because of the help that Texans Can Academies gave her.
“I want to tell everyone, don’t quit. Quitting is not worth it. This school helps a lot. I came here not caring, but I’m leaving here caring so much.
A lot of people think Texans Can is going to be like every other school, but I can guarantee you it’s not like any other school. They’ll actually push you and motivate you to do better so you can be someone in life.”
DESTINY'S STORY
My story begins when my mom was 15-years-old. She was raped by my father and that is how I was conceived.
Soon after I was born my mom was diagnosed with postpartum depression.
When I was two weeks old I had trouble breathing and my mom found out I had a tumor in my throat. I had to have surgery to remove the tumor and then was sent home to recover. Not too long after I went home somehow when I was in my crib all my stiches in my neck ripped open. I am thankful my grandmother came to check in on my mother and I because when she did my mother was standing there watching me bleed out and not doing anything to stop it.
I believe my mother was so still so angry and resented me because I reminded her of her rape. My grandma ended up picking me up and holding my head to my body and getting me to the hospital in time.
This was my beginning.
When I was about 3-years-old my mom married my stepdad. They had my little sister and then my little brother.
From as early as I can remember my parents highly favored my siblings.
I remember one time we were back to school shopping at the flea market when I saw the coolest pair of high top Vans I had ever seen. They had checkers and so many bright colors. I had never seen shoes like that before. I picked them up and asked my stepdad if I could have them.
He looked me straight in my eyes and said no, yet he turned to my younger sister and said, “Would you like these shoes?”
It broke my heart so much because I could feel him using my excitement for the shoes against me. It was just another way to make me feel like I wasn’t as important as my brother and sister.
Drugs are another issue that plagues family for as long as I can remember. My mom’s pregnancy with my sister did not even stop her or my stepdad from consuming drugs day in and day out.
His drug of choice was heroin and my mother’s was meth.
The majority of my childhood was spent watching my parents do and sell drugs.
My stepdad became very violent and would beat on me and my mother on a regular basis.
I remember one time he threw my mother through our glass French doors. She landed on the back porch and in the process her two front teeth were knocked out. I saw all of this happen right in front of me. After her teeth were knocked out he would make fun of her all the time.
She became very depressed and tried killing herself in our bathroom. She locked the door and broke the mirror. She eventually let me in and I saw my mother bleeding from her wrists in our bathtub. Somehow my grandparents showed up and were able to get her help and she lived.
You might be thinking, ‘Where was Child Protective Services?”.
They were there actually. My family went through seven CPS cases while I was growing up.
It was basically hopeless though because my parents coached us on what to say to the CPS workers. They would threaten us with beatings if we didn’t say exactly what we were supposed to.
My parents also had us pee in their drug test cups so they wouldn’t be caught testing positive for drugs.
One time we were removed from our house and went to go live with my stepdad’s mother. She was mean herself and also resented me for not being her son’s child. Life with her was just about as difficult as life at home.
The violence between my mom and my stepdad came to a head one day when he showed up unexpectedly at our doorstep. He had been in jail and had gotten out and not told anyone.
He kidnapped my mother that day.
I called my grandparents and they came and got us kids and we went looking for them. Somehow, by the grace of God, we found them at an old motel on the Westside. My grandfather and uncle and the hotel manager broke down the door and we found my mother duct tapped to a chair. I remember the duct tape being so tight her skin was budging out. She was sweating and crying, but we couldn’t understand her because her mouth was duct tapped shut.
He was arrested and sent back to jail.
I wanted a better life, but things kept going downhill.
You see, all of this was happening while I was going to school or trying to go to school.
On the days I didn’t have to stay home and take care of my baby brother because my parents wouldn’t wake up, I would try attend school, but I always had to remember to cover up my bruises and be cautious to avoid questions from adults.
One day I ended up getting arrested and spend three weeks in juvenile detention. One day a school a girl who had been picking on me called me a bastard. See I didn’t know what that meant until a friend told me.
I became so angry. This girl knew my mother had been raped. I got into a physical fight with this girl and caused her to need a few stiches. I guess all my anger just came out that day because I had never been in a fight before.
I was later arrested and found guilty and sentenced to three weeks in a juvenile detention center. However, there was a good thing that came from this bad situation.
I told my entire story.
I told her everything, all the stories I just told you plus so many more I don’t have the time to tell today. This helped me get out of my parents’ house for good. This started the process of me being adopted by my grandparents.
In a way I am thankful for that experience because I was finally able to get help.
I went to two high schools before I found San Antonio CAN. I never felt like I fit it. When I was there I would miss my siblings and worry if they were okay. After the kidnapping incident my grandparents decided to legally adopt me.
I remember I was in class one time and shared with the class that I might be able to go to college since I was adopted I could get grants. The adult in the room asked me in front of the whole class, “Why are you being adopted? You/re parents don’t want you?”
It was like a punch in the gut.
Immediately after finding the Can Academies I didn’t feel lonely. For the first time, my teachers understood and helped me. They made me feel wanted. If it weren’t for them I don’t think I would be graduating. I finally found find the first place where I truly belonged.
My advisor Ms. Simmons and my English teacher Ms. Hatfield made me feel like they understood where I had been and that I was wanted.
If it weren’t for San Antonio CAN I don’t think I would be graduating from high school.
Now my life is different.
Although my mom will always be my mom and I can’t change the past, I can choose what I do moving forward.
My goals are to join the Army after high school and eventually earn a degree in education and come back to teach at the CAN. I want to help students like me find their purpose.
And as for me, I was adopted by my grandparents. My grandparents love me very much. I have a boyfriend who helped me get in my journey to get off meth and I found a great church that I consider a second home.
I am thankful for the Can, my grandparents, my boyfriend and my church. I am also thankful for those of you reading this today.
I found find the first place I felt I truly belonged, San Antonio Can.
I know now that I life of love, faith and hope to look forward to. Thank you for believing in me.
ANNA MARIE'S STORY
Her father was an aggressive alcoholic who beat his wife and children on a daily basis.
Her mother would try to escape and run away with the children in an effort to keep them safe, but Anna Marie’s father always found them.
When she was five-years-old, her father strangled her mother with a belt until she lost consciousness, and then he kicked her baby sister across the room.
Anna Marie saved them by calling 9-1-1 and her father was put in jail for a short period of time.
Once again, her family relocated with the hope of starting over without him. Unfortunately every time they tried to escape he would always find them.
So the drunken cycle continued, along with the assaults.
After coming home from middle school one day, she found her mother sobbing in the bathroom from yet another beating. Anna Marie called the police and this time her father was deported.
From then on, pain and anger was the only thing that veiled the hidden burden of her past.
“I was a bad kid when I was younger,” says Anna Marie. “I got in trouble, went to jail, and was ordered to go to behavior class.”
At 15, she became a mother and moved in with the baby’s father. However, he was not supportive of her continuing her education and was not responsible with the baby.
So Anna Marie dropped out of high school.
She then moved back in with her mother and siblings, but her mother gave her an ultimatum: go back to school or go to work.
It was a decision of a lifetime. Anna Marie had watched her brother give up his dream of going to college so he could help support the family, but she knew she wanted more for her life - so she enrolled at Dallas Can Academies.
Anna Marie has been at the Can Academies for two years now and is on track to graduate in 2018.
She says the flexibility of attending the school’s half-day sessions made it all possible.
She didn’t have to choose whether to support her family or get an education.
With guidance from her teachers and advisor, she continues to research colleges with nursing programs. Her goal is to care for elderly patients and to make a better life for her daughter and the rest of her family.
“I’m proud of myself for getting out of a bad situation,” says Anna Marie. “Without Dallas Can, I would not be in school. I would never have gone back.”
Student name has been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.
MARIO'S STORY
Though my life has balanced out now, it has not always been one that is comfortable.
I grew up in what many would call the ghetto. Not only were we poor, but we lived next door to the neighborhood drug house.
My name is Mario, I am 15-years-old, I’m currently a sophomore at Texans Can Academies and this is my story.
Having that house beside us, made a poor neighborhood, dangerous. I witnessed drive-by shootings, people being shot, drug overdoses and our house was robbed frequently.
As a kid, I could not even play outside because there were always guns. One time, I remember that during a police raid, they used a flash grenade and I was outside and it hurt my ears. My dad had to come get me and carry me inside. It was very painful.
Living next to a drug house gave me many opportunities to use drugs, but I had made the choice early on to never take anything. I had watched my brother go down that path and I saw how hard it made things for him. I knew that I wanted more for my life and that I could do better.
We eventually moved and I started high school at South Oak Cliff. I was doing well, but was struggling to pass the TSI test. My goal is to join the infantry directly after graduation and pursue a career in the military. I knew that I would need to pass the ASVAB for military entrance and if I was struggling to pass the TSI, the ASVAB would be even harder.
My sister, who also graduated from Texans Can, told me about the school and the focused help I would receive here. Now I am currently working hard to gain the knowledge needed to successfully pass the TSI so I can move forward. I am also working closely with my advisor and the career transition coordinator to get assistance with the ASVAB and will take it towards the end of my second year.
I came from the ghetto, but I will not remain in the ghetto.
Though my journey is just beginning I can already tell the difference in the students and staff at Texans Can. With the help from my teachers and others I will not only graduate, but I am set to graduate early.
I am excited for this and have big plans for myself, my life, and my service in the military. The support people give to Texans Can helps give hope and impacts the lives of kids just like me.
My name is Mario and I am set to be a Texan Can graduate in June 2019.
A Story to be Told, A Story to be Heard
All my life I have had to overcome problems that I thought would never happen to me. I was born with asthma, and my little brother was born with Downs Syndrome. We are both black males, poor, and grew up in a bad neighborhood; we were born into problems. To top it off, a problem that I am still trying to overcome is the hard fight my mother put up against cancer for ten years leading to her ultimate death. She died on May 17, 2009. It still affects me every day of my life.
That next year was one of the hardest years of my life. We were poorer than poor, living in Mason Manor trying to make it while my mama worked two jobs. She was then laid off because her employer felt she was supposed to enjoy her last days with her kids. No one could say the words “yo mama” without catching my fist in their teeth. That caused us to do a lot of moving. It seemed every school I went to there was always that one person who would always say it and make me mad.
By 8th grade my mom thought it would be a good idea to move us to Pflugerville. It was a rough year, but I barely made it through. That summer my mama spent a lot of time in and out the hospital with medical procedures. It was now the first day of school at Pflugerville High. I made it through, went to football practice and ended up fighting with this guy. Luckily, I wasn’t suspended. The next day at school his homeboy approached me and said, “Let me see you do me like that…!” I didn’t say anything. I just started throwing a flurry of punches until he hit the floor. Then the whole football team jumped me in the main hallway. I injured three guys, so they expelled me and from the school district. The school called my mother out of bed to come get me. This only frazzled her more.
I had to learn to control myself a little more. We ended up moving to some apartments. I transferred to another high school. The first year and a half there went alright, aside from the fact I was still slowly losing my mother. It was starting to be clearer that she would not be around for as long as I had thought. But I was going to school and taking care of business, the most important thing. Soon enough, the second semester of my sophomore year I was kicked out of high school for being an alleged gang member.
That brought me to Austin Can! for a little while. It helped me out at the time by attending the PM session. In the morning I would take care of my mom, go to school from 12 to 4 and go straight back home to take care of her some more. That gave us alot of time to make memories. I finished the school year at Austin Can! with no problem. The following school year I decided to go back to my home high school, worst idea of my life. One day I had noone to call because I had just checked my mom into Seton hospital for her chemotherapy. That was the day I was expelled from AISD for gang relation and failure to ID.
For two weeks I was out of school and in the hospital with my mother, watching her fade away slowly. Soon after she was shipped to San Antonio to a hospital specializing in cancer. She died in that hospital May 17, 2009. I made a promise to my mother that I would graduate and attend college so I could be rich and take care of her. I graduated from Austin Can! this past spring and kept my promise to my Mom, now I have to work on the second half of the promise.