BLAINE, Minn. – (March, 3, 2016) – “This is our eleventh annual, it used to be called the Taste of Blaine, we’ve shortened it to just The Taste,” said Cars for Neighbors executive director Jim Huff. And tasting…is just what hundreds of Cars For Neighbors supporters did this week. And, no one was leaving hungry. By the end of the night many stomachs were full, all so Cars For Neighbors can provide a helping hand to those in our community that are running on empty.
“We’ve given away 959 cars (as of) last week but we’ve actually repaired way more cars than we’ve donated. We actually help people in the community get their cars repaired which can be very expensive to get done, somewhere close to 4,000 of those,” said Huff.
Getting a client back on the road as soon as possible is important and Cars For Neighbors has developed their system with that in mind.
“We send them to Meineke in Ham Lake or in Columbia Heights. It’s Meineke because they are working with us, they cut their labor rate about in half and they go in, get their car inspected, if it’s something we can repair or do at least some of the repairs we’ll go ahead and approve that. They go ahead and make the appointment, they bring the car back, and their done and on their way. So if people get stuff to us in a timely fashion we sometimes can turn a car in a day or two,” said Huff.
While public transportation can be an option – there are so many situations where it is just not viable. “We gave away a car last year to a dad, lived in Blaine, worked at Pentair in Anoka. You would think their would certainly be a bus running from Blaine to Anoka except that he works second shift. What he was doing was walking the 10 miles each way,” said Huff.
Stories like that were being told all around The Taste and the importance of reliable transportation was on everyone’s mind. Cars For Neighbors recently launched an information campaign that brought them to every church in Anoka County and now will take them into businesses from Columbia Heights to East Bethel and from Lino Lakes to Ramsey. “We want them to know we exist and if they have an employee they know about that’s struggling to get to work we want to know about it,” said Huff.
The generous spirit of the hungry hoards that gathered to taste will help Cars for Neighbors get more people back behind the wheel and on the road to success. For more on Cars for Neighbors including how to donate click here.
