Donate Your Car program goes national

CHARITY group Kids Under Cover’s ‘Donate Your Car’ program is going national for the first time this year, with automotive auction house Manheim conducting auctions around the country to raise money for youth homelessness.

The program gives people the opportunity to donate their car to Manheim who will then auction the vehicle with all money raised being directed to the Kids Under Cover charity.

So far, the program has raised $500,000 through the auctions, with funds being used to build homes and provide scholarships and mentors for homeless and at-risk youth.

After launching the program in 2006, over 900 vehicles have been donated, mostly from Victoria, and with the campaign going national this year, Kids Under Cover hopes that this number will grow.

Kids Under Cover national CEO Jo Swift said that there has been a huge increase in people seeking assistance for homelessness in recent years.

“Data has shown that in the 2011/12 year, almost a quarter of a million Australians have sought help from a specialist homelessness service,” she said.

Ms Swift said that approximately 20 per cent of these people were under the age of 10, with research showing that people who experience homelessness as a youth are more likely to experience it as an adult.

“For these young people their state of homelessness or risk of homelessness has not been the result of choice,” she said.

“Our solution is to build homes and provide scholarships and mentors to help these young people to create a stable and healthy home environment connect or reconnect with their education and stay engaged with their community.” All types of vehicles are eligible for the program including cars, motorbikes, trucks, caravans, trailers and boats and Kids Under Cover is also encouraging car dealerships to get involved, as they are eligible for a tax deduction.

To donate a car, people must go to www.donateyourcar.org.au to register and the car will be collected within four days in preparation for the auction.

Donate Your Car even has a mascot in the form of a donated and restored Volkswagen Beetle named Bernie that will hit the road as a part of a promotional tour alongside a Hyundai i20 hatch that has been given a make-over by graffiti artists Beastman and Numskull.

Kids Under Cover was established in 1989 and is a not-for-profit organization that offers homeless services and programs for young people at risk of homelessness.