Dear Kidney Foundation:  Thank you so much for helping me get my vehicle fixed!  The $350 was a blessing.  If it wasn’t for your help, I wouldn’t have had any way to get back and forth to my dialysis treatments.  I appreciate what you have done for me.  Thank you for lightening the burden and improved the quality of my life in every way!  Thank you!!! D. Espinoza

Tires, not Ties for Father’s Day?

Showing you Care…with a Car

 (Provo, UT, June 15, 2008) –    Did your dad teach you to drive?  Did he show you how to change a tire, or maybe even the oil filter? Did he teach you to drive for blocks looking for the cheapest gas in town? The National Kidney Foundation believes you can make this father’s day special with a very unique gift for all he taught you about cars.  Honor your father by donating your used car to the Kidney Kars donation program of the National Kidney Foundation of Utah.  Not only is father’s day a wonderful time to donate to honor dad, gas prices are sky high, and there’s no better reason to both honor Dad and get rid of a gas-guzzler all at the same time.  Kidney Kars donations are sold or recycled to raise money for local medical research, patient services, organ donation and public education. Talk about getting good mileage! You may also find yourself in the express lane for a tax deduction.  In fact, eighty-seven (87%) percent of Americans who donated cars, vans, trucks or boats last year itemized their tax returns and were able to reap a charitable deduction for their contribution.   For more information, or to donate your car, van, truck or boat, call 1-800-TOW-KARS (1-800-869-5277) or donate online at www.towkars.org. Save gas, recycle, help kidney patients, save on your taxes.  Honk if you think Dad would be proud.

Dear Kidney Kars,

I’d like to make this donation in honor of my father who recently passed away because of kidney failure.  This was his car.   Of course the car is now 15 years old, and not much to look at, but it still runs.  It was the first car he ever bought brand new and he loved it so much.  Seeing his car still sitting in the driveway makes us all sad.  But donating it to the Kidney Foundation of Utah feels like the right thing to do.  Thank you for taking this car and using it to helping other kidney patients like my Dad.

 –Joe M. from Draper Utah

Be sure to do your homework when donating your car to charity here in Utah.  There are some organizations with look-a-like names (for example: kars4kids instead of Kidney Kars, or Kidney Fund instead of National Kidney Foundation). There are also charities that fund-raise in Utah, even though they have no local presence and no one in Utah benefits from their services!  The worst, is believing you are donating to a good cause, when really, the middle man gets the biggest cut (some ‘charity’ car donation programs only give about 5% or 10% of the proceeds to the charity).   Call the charity, ask where their office is located, and what percent of the funds go to local programs.  Be sure to ask what those programs are.  Never donate to a charity that you’ve never heard of without first calling the Utah State Division of Consumer Protection (under the Department of Commerce).  The Division of Consumer protection ( http://www.commerce.utah.gov/ ) has information on all legitimate charities in Utah and can tell you what percent of the funding is applied to programs vs. overhead.  The National Kidney Foundation of Utah gets at least a couple of calls a month from donors, who think they’ve donated to Kidney Kars, but in fact, accidentally donated to Kars4Kids.  You might surprised you to learn who Kars4Kids really benefits : http://www.kcchronicle.com/articles/2007/11/06/business/local/doc4730548f382c6122372766.txt  Make sure you know who you’re donating to.  Pick a real Utah charity for your car donation!

I just wanted to thank you for your quick processing of our car donation!  I am so happy to know the donation is going to a legitimate charity, right here in Utah.  Thanks for making the process so easy.   Have a wonderful holiday. Regards, Natalie S.