Missouri man finds wheels for hundreds of at-need drivers.
Car Santa Terry Franz |
While some wish-listers want iPods and Playstations for the holidays, some folks are just in need of something practical. Something like a car that runs enough to get to work and to get kids to school.
Some of their wishes are filled each year by Terry Franz. Calling himself the Car Santa, Franz has been collecting usable cars from donators and giving them out for the holidays to people in need across the Midwest since 1996.
Cars are donated to Franz' effort through dealerships, garages, and body shops. Franz counts on local radio and TV coverage to get enough cars to give out - and counts on a battalion of volunteers to help recondition the cars and distribute them, which takes a good part of each year.
The cars aren't new, this Santa stresses. Those he's regifted have had anywhere from 40,000 to 250,000 miles. Some have rust, and most have dents and dings. But each one is inspected to make sure they're safe and that they run properly, Franz says.
Franz' efforts have helped hundreds of drivers unable to afford cars themselves.
"In 1998 we gave away a 1972 Maverick that a dealer had given us. It wasn't pretty but it ran good. The guy we gave it to was walking 11 miles to work every day. We gave it to him and he cried, he was so happy," Franz remembers. "You would have thought he won the lottery but then again, when was the last time you walk 11 miles in the cold weather?"
Not all the cars he gives away are elderly, but some appreciative users are. "The nicest car [we gave away] was a 2000 Ford Expedition that went to a senior-citizen center to get the elderly to doctor appointments," he says.
Getting a car from Santa requires real need. Franz collects wishes by mail and from the Internet at his site, Cars for Christmas. People who want a car can't be able to get one any other way. He gets about 20,000 requests a year.
Some are outfitted with wheelchair lifts and other special-needs hardware. In one case, a group effort put one of those special vehicles in the right hands.
"In 2001, 15 teachers from a special education school sent letters about a waitress raising seven-year-old twins on her own. Her car blew an engine and she had no way of getting her children anywhere," Franz recalls. "One of the twins had cerebral palsy and was in a wheelchair and could not speak. That same day I went to a Ford dealer that was giving us two cars and he said, 'Let's go out back and see what I can give you.'
"He pointed at a Dodge Caravan that had been traded in and said, 'you can have that one.' I opened the side door and a ramp folded out for wheelchair access. We got the hint - and she got the van for Christmas."
The Car Santa makes sure children are taken care of on the road. When needed, the gift cars get child safety seats courtesy of the Safety Council of Kansas and Missouri, and are installed by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
This year, Franz expects to give away more than a hundred cars across the Midwest . On December 21, 50 cars will be given away at
Harrah's North Kansas City; the next day, 25 cars will be given in Omaha .
And Franz promises, "some special gifts will be delivered across the Midwest on Christmas Eve."
;)
