A deserving Orange County, CA, veteran received a beautifully refurbished vehicle to help him continue his transition from military life and care for his daughters in a Sept. 5 presentation was made possible by the National Auto Body Council (NABC) Recycled Rides program, car donor GEICO and repair partner Caliber Collision.
The presentation took place at the Caliber Collision location in Harbor City, CA, with a crowd of GEICO employees, Caliber Collision team members and other partners in attendance.
Christopher Tucker, who was presented a 2018 Honda CR-V EX, is a U.S. Army veteran working hard to improve his life. As he takes care of his daughters, he also continues to look for ways to give back to his veteran brothers and sisters. Tucker has worked hard to reach a place of stability in his life, including working as an apprentice at a local HVAC company. Unfortunately, he has struggled with missing work due to an unreliable vehicle that frequently breaks down and leaves him stranded. He has been using about half of his income to rent vehicles due to the unreliability of his own transportation.
Tucker was nominated for the NABC Recycled Rides program by the Wounded Warrior Project, the nation’s leading veteran’s service organization, dedicated to the total well-being of post 9/11 wounded, ill or injured veterans and their families.
“I’m elated, I’m not used to this amount of support from the community,” said Tucker. “The technicians donated their time, their money and their efforts to give me a reliable vehicle to get to and from work and to and from my daughter in San Diego. It’s been a dream of mine to work with veterans and now I will have the ability to do so.”
GEICO, a Level One partner of the NABC, has donated more than 1,000 vehicles to people and organizations through NABC Recycled Rides, making it the largest car donor partner of NABC Recycled Rides.
Caliber Collision, also a Level One partner, has donated more than 600 vehicles to military service members, veterans and other individuals in need of reliable transportation over the last 12 years. All Caliber locations are I-CAR Gold Certified repair facilities.
NABC Recycled Rides is a unique program in which businesses representing all facets of the collision repair industry team up to repair and donate vehicles to individuals and families in need of reliable transportation. Since the inception of the program in 2007, members of the NABC have donated more than 3,500 vehicles valued at $51 million.
Additional partners in this presentation included Copart, Enterprise, Advanced Remarketing Services and Cars for Charity.
