MEDIA NOTE: Photos from the NABC Recycled Rides® presentation are available HERE
PORT CHARLOTTE, FL (January 17, 2026) – On Thursday, January 15, a Bay Area special needs instructor received a life-changing gift—the donation of a beautifully refurbished vehicle as he continues his important work in the community. The donation was made possible by the NABC Recycled Rides® program, vehicle donor Allstate and repair partner Fix Auto Alameda.
The presentation took place at the Fix Auto location in Alameda, CA. The recipient was nominated by SparkPoint Contra Costa East. SparkPoint Contra Costa (SPCC) Centers, located in Richmond, San Pablo, Pleasant Hill, and Bay Point, are financial education centers that help individuals, families, and college students who are struggling financially to make ends meet. SPCC helps them build financial stability through high-quality services that empower clients to improve credit, increase income, and build/preserve savings and assets.
“We feel very proud and humbled because not everybody has these types of opportunities in their life,” said Arthur Mercado of Fix Auto Alameda. “We’re happy that we can springboard this gentleman into his career in special education and get him the means of transportation to get him to and from school and get him to and from his job with special education students.”
Charly Vera Valle is a hardworking student and special needs instructional aide. He has been working with SparkPoint for four years to build his financial literacy skills. Charly was making great progress until his car broke down last year and he had to use his savings to purchase an eco-friendly car. Unfortunately, he found himself a victim of a scam that left him without a vehicle, and without the savings he had worked so hard to build. He is currently working hard to rebuild his savings, but that is difficult without reliable transportation. Charly works full-time as an instructional aide for children with special needs and part-time at a retail store. He is also attending community college to further his education in special education. The past year has been difficult because Charly lives in an unincorporated part of Contra Costa County with limited public transportation options to his jobs and school. He is also very active in several nonprofit organizations that provide services to youth and children with special needs. This refurbished vehicle from the NABC Recycled Rides® program will allow Charly to continue working in the field he is passionate about and continue his education.
“I’m kind of in shock,” said Vera Valle as he wiped tears from his eyes. “It was one problem after the next. It was tough to get from one point to the other and I just randomly got a call and they said, ‘Hey you’ve got a free car’ and I couldn’t believe this was for real.”
Allstate, a Level One partner of the National Auto Body Council®, has donated more than 200 vehicles to people and organizations through the NABC Recycled Rides® program, making it one of the largest car donor partners of NABC Recycled Rides®.
Fix Auto USA is part of the Driven Brands family of automotive brands, and Fix Auto Alameda is an I-CAR Gold Certified repair facility.
Additional partners in this presentation include: Officer Hall of the Oakland, CA Highway Patrol, Ted and Joe’s Towing, Victory Mazda of San Leandro, Enterprise, Advanced Remarketing Services and Cars for Charity
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 NABC Recycled Rides® program in 2007, members of the National Auto Body Council® have donated more than 3,750 vehicles valued at some $67 million.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL AUTO BODY COUNCIL®
The National Auto Body Council® is the premier organization of collision industry partners dedicated to strategic networking opportunities that positively change lives in the communities we serve. The collaborative membership of the National Auto Body Council® has gifted more than 3,750 vehicles and provided extrication opportunities for some 6,000 First Responders in communities around the country through NABC Recycled Rides® and NABC First Responder Emergency Extrication (F.R.E.E.™). That effort equates to a 4:1 ROI in dollar value delivered from NABC® membership dollars.
The NABC Changing and Saving Lives Foundation, a 501c3 organization, is committed to the goal of driving change for veterans, military members, first responders and families in need, while harnessing the power of the collective membership of the collision repair industry to positively impact communities where we live and work. As demand for NABC® programs like NABC Recycled Rides® and NABC F.R.E.E.™ grows, so do the needs for resources to manage these important programs. Being able to pursue grants, gifts and donations allows NABC to expand these programs to serve those in need and help communities where we live and work. For more information, visit www.NationalautoBodyCouncil.org.