The D.C. Chapter of Charity Dispatch, the company handling logistical support for Red Cross and Goodwill car and truck donations in the metro area, has issued a BOLO (Be On Look-Out) for trucks needing a new home. These trucks not only made the 10 Most Wanted List, they are wanted Dead Or Alive…that is, running or not. Tough economic times, coupled with decreasing used car prices, has hurt everyone in the country, and charities are no exception. With cash donations down, the need has never been greater for donated trucks, to raise money at auction fundraisers or given (or sold cheaply) to families in need.

While many people every year pay money to have their unwanted  truck towed away to a scrapyard or car graveyard, a much better use can be realized by calling Charity Dispatch in D.C. Not only will you save the towing fee which the junkyard wants to hit you up for, Charity Dispatch will arrange for your truck to be towed for free, and make sure you get all the paperwork necessary to itemize your tax deduction for the donated truck.

Simply by dialing 800 506 0172, day or night, you will not only beautify your driveway or yard of the possibly unsightly truck, but you may even see the donated truck put to use by a needy family. Imagine dropping off your child at school, and seeing your old truck stop there also, dropping off a small child. Your reservation at the Pearly Gates awaits.

There are thousands of people in the greater D.C area who need help with job training. Many are disabled or disadvantaged, and without the job training and assistance of Goodwill, these people would face an even steeper climb to get back on their feet. The lack of a vehicle further hinders job placement. Without transportation, deemed a necessity by many employers, some job applicants are just out of luck. This is where a vehicle donation to Goodwill Industries becomes a lifesaver.

Goodwill can and will accept any type of vehicle for donation, running or not. It can be new, old, in between, in perfect condition, or needing work just to run. Goodwill is very appreciative of any type vehicle, be it a car, truck, RV, a boat on a trailer, or a motorcycle. You will not even be charged to have it towed away, even if it doesn’t run. If it has a motor and tires, give them a call. Even after hours, Charity Dispatch will answer the call and arrange the logistics of the donation process, starting with the free towing of your donated vehicle. Be sure to get a towing receipt, and keep all financial records relating to your vehicle and the paperwork given to you by Goodwill within 30 days of your donation. It will state what the vehicle has sold for at auction, and this receipt will be necessary for you tax deduction if you itemize your next tax return.

That old truck that has been sitting around, seemingly forever, in your driveway or yard may not look like much. You may be thinking it would embarrass you to donate it to charity because it has a dent or two, and the upholstery has seen better days. But there are people here in this country who would love to have it, no matter what it looks like, so don’t let your truck’s looks stop you from calling Charity Dispatch here in D.C at 800-506-0172 and letting them help you with the logistics of donating your truck to Goodwill Industries.

Goodwill is the incredible organization that helps a million or more people each year with job training and believe me, they can put your truck donation to good use. So many people who need a vehicle to get to and from work don’t have the funds to buy one, and the truck you are not using, and most likely never will again, will be a godsend for a family currently in a dire situation. Even if your truck needs a little fixing up, Goodwill will more than happy to accept your donation.

You may be one of millions around the country who work the graveyard shift, and your normal sleeping hours occur during the day. This is where the good people at the D.C. branch of Charity Dispatch come in to play, answering your call before or after normal business hours, arranging the logistics for the free towing of your donated truck, ensuring that another family may benefit from your generosity.

Vehicle donations can take surprising forms, from unused clunkers to brand new lift trucks, as was the case several years ago in Texas. Ten days before the 9/11 terrorist attack, The Goodwill Industries chapter in Houston Texas received a Caterpillar lift truck which was donated from Cat Financial Services, in conjunction with Mustang Tractor & Equipment Company and Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America.

This type of truck donation was needed to move the vast quantities of items donated by the good people of Houston. It is this kind of donation that proves even big corporations can have big hearts, contrary to the perception that most large corporations have only the bottom line in mind. I can only imagine the look of happiness on the faces of the Goodwill volunteers working in that huge warehouse, whose job just got a lot easier with the arrival of the large lift truck.

This is not to say large, new trucks are the kind of truck donation that charities like Goodwill and the Red Cross are only happy with, far from it. Very few people or companies have the ability to donate such a large, expensive truck, but just as much benefit occurs when an older truck is donated to Goodwill, and can be used by a family needing transportation to and from jobs, schools, and the like. Every type of donated truck is not only beneficial, but appreciated from the bottom of somebody’s heart. Even you and I can make that happen.

It doesn’t take a Force Five Hurricane for the American Red Cross to spring into action, though that may be the effort most associated with the A.R.C. Time and time again, we see first hand the work of a highly motivated core of volunteers, numbering over a million people annually when the monster hurricanes wreak havoc along America’s coastline. From far south Texas, along the Gull States, Florida, and up the east coast, Mother Nature sends us reminders each year who is the boss, and only the great dedication of Red Cross volunteers keep the devastation from being far, far worse than it already is. With the generosity of the American spirit in the form of blood and vehicle donations, volunteers spring into action as soon as a call goes out requesting their services.

Thankfully, Mother Nature takes long breaks, usually, before her titanic fits of temper, but man-made disasters unfortunately occur with much more regularity. When a house, apartment, or mobile home catches fire, Red Cross volunteers respond just like the emergency response teams of firefighters and police. Families suddenly needing shelter, clothing, and food are relieved to find the Red Cross volunteers at their side to arrange everything needed immediately, and then referring the families to the local chapter for further assistance. A donated vehicle is often available to families whose transportation has, along with their residence, been destroyed in the flames. Thanks to generous people who have an extra vehicle to donate, this vehicle will help the fire victims get back on their feet as quickly as possible.

Through the generous donations of over 60 million people last year, Goodwill Industries was able to help over a million and a half Americans last year. Think about that for a minute. That is the population of a major city, like Denver, or Dallas, Detroit…think about the good being done for the ENTIRE population of a city of that size. Every man, woman, and child receiving help. That is what I call a great organization, an organization that uses nearly 85% of donated funds for job training and other programs to help people get back on their feet and become successful working again. Car donations figure heavily into Goodwill’s efforts, with many people who need a car to get to work being provided with a donated car.

Compare that 85% figure with some so-called charitable organizations, I won’t name names, but there exist organizations that use only 5% of donations for charitable causes, and the rest being paid to themselves as salaries. That is why Goodwill is one of the very, very best charities you can donate your car to. It will do the most good for the most people at Goodwill.

Of course donated cars are among the most prized donations for any charity, but many people who want to help simply do not have a car to spare, and Goodwill accepts nearly all items with any value at all to sell in their retail outlets to fund their programs, including used clothing and furniture. When help is needed, Goodwill is right around the corner.

There are many heroic stories during disaster relief, stories about firemen rescuing people from burning and collapsing buildings, drowning victims being miraculously saved, or revived during floods and hurricanes, the non-stop humanitarian relief efforts of Red Cross volunteers amidst the chaos and horror of war, famine and disaster. But the foundation for these miracles is laid by another type of hero, the average big-hearted American who donates their blood, their time, their sweat, or a vehicle to the Red Cross. Without these unsung heroes, a lot of the miracles we witness would not be possible.

Blood used to treat our wounded military in places like Iraq and Afghanistan is collected by the Red Cross from 4 million generous donors in America, who are not paid for their blood donation. Between 7-8 million units of blood are collected each year and, besides the military usage, is used by all of our nation’s hospitals for accident victims, surgery, illness, and disease treatment. Besides the blood donations, countless others go another mile and donate a vehicle to sell at fundraising auctions, to help keep the Red Cross supplied.

Added to all the above generosity are the over 1 million people who volunteer their free time and labor to the American Red Cross every year, and you come up with the greatest charity in the history of the world, where the motto is get the job done at all cost, funded by the true American heroes who give everything at no cost.

There is a very good reason Goodwill Industries took its name. The very act of giving to a charitable cause, be it in the form of money, time, clothing, or a car donation, is such a magnanimous act that it brings as much joy to the person on the giving end as it does to the recipient of the donated item. With 10 percent of the work force currently unemployed, the need has seldom been greater than right now for donations to help those financially strapped, as many in our nation face foreclosure and if not already homeless, soon will be.

It might be that you yourself would like to help, but have no money to give, nor a car to donate. If you hear of one of these car donation events through Goodwill Industries or the Red Cross, you can still help if you can spare a few hours to volunteer your services. The need for volunteers never ends, and every dollar saved in administrative costs can ultimately be used to provide the truly needy with the necessities of life like food, shelter, and clothing, along with diapers and formula for infants of families in need.

If you do have a car you are willing to donate, so much the better. In fact, any type of vehicle will do, including bicycles, scooters, trucks, boats, RV’s, you name it, if it can be sold, it can be donated, and the goodwill you bring to others will manifest itself to heavenly goodwill in your heart.

You may wonder, as you are deciding whether or not to donate your vehicle to charity, just what the proceeds are going to be used for. This is quite a legitimate concern, for there are many unscrupulous characters in this world. Be certain that the efforts of the American Red Cross do not fall in this category.

The American Red Cross, part of the International Red Cross that was founded in Switzerland in the latter 1850′s, was founded by a battlefield nurse named Clara Barton, who went to Europe after her Civil War nursing and learned of the Red Cross there. While millions of Americans give money and blood each year to this lifesaving organization, a tremendous amount of money is raised by people donating their vehicles to be sold, with the Red Cross using the money in their humanitarian response to disaster.

The Red Cross’s budget is over 4 billion dollars a year, nearly all of it in the form of donations. It is not funded by the government, and the million or more volunteers each year are not paid. Only the president of the Red Cross, and about 40,000 nurses, receive any money at all for their services, so the vast majority of the money resulting from your vehicle donation to the Red Cross will benefit disaster victims, not some bureaucrat living the good life at taxpayer expense, since the Red Cross is non-profit, and therefore tax exempt. The volunteer soldiers of the Red Cross are using your donations to save lives. You can sleep well at night.

Every once in a while you get up enough energy to again think about selling that old truck in your driveway or yard, the one you’ve been meaning to restore to its original pristine condition. But after considering, for the umpteenth time, all the costs associated with the restoration, you sigh, and start to pick up the phone and call the salvage yard. If you have already made this call once, you may already know it is going to cost you to have it towed away, so instead of calling that salvage yard, why not donate the truck instead?

Charities like the American Red Cross will be glad to come and tow your donated truck for free. Not only will you save the money it would have cost to either restore the truck or to have it towed away, you will have another deduction if you itemize your tax return. The charity will provide you with the proper paperwork within 30 days, and if you have any questions about claiming your truck donation as a deduction, your accountant is certainly up on the latest I.R.S. guidelines and can give you the lowdown quickly.

Truck donations are a huge part of fundraising efforts of the Red Cross, Goodwill, and many other reputable charities, and one of the easiest ways to help charity even if you don’t have money to donate. Not only will the charity thank you, but neighbors tired of looking at your truck may thank you too!