Community Celebration to Honor and Change Four Veterans Lives Held at Dynasty Auto Body on Friday, September 5, 2025, in Paterson, NJ
MEDIA NOTE: Photos and Video from the NABC Recycled Rides® presentation are available HERE
PORT CHARLOTTE, FL (September 5, 2025) – On Friday, September 5, four New Jersey veterans received life-changing gifts—the donation of beautifully refurbished vehicles to help them care for their families. The donations were made possible by the NABC Recycled Rides® program, vehicle donor GEICO and repair partner Dynasty Auto Body.
The presentation was part of a spectacular community event that takes place each year at Dynasty Auto Body in Paterson, NJ, with Patterson city and Passaic County police, firefighters, first responders, and local dignitaries on hand to participate, including Mayor Andre Sayegh. This was the 13th event that Dynasty Auto Body has hosted, and the 21st NABC Recycled Ride® that they have presented to local veterans in need.
“We have been working with the National Auto Body Council® since November of 2011, ever since John and I saw them gifting vehicles at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas”, said Anne Kolea, Manager at Dynasty Auto Body. “Our first NABC Recycled Rides® event was in June of 2012. 13 years later, here we are at our 13th event”.
The recipients were nominated by New Jersey Veterans Network. New Jersey Veterans Network is a volunteer mobile outreach program that is completely dedicated to helping veterans and their families live a better life.
“Dynasty Auto Body is the epitome of what NABC stands for. ,” said Dale Ross, NABC Recycled Rides® Program Director. “Our mission is saving and changing lives every day. And they not only refurbished these vehicles to provide reliable transportation to people that need it, but they bring the whole community together to honor our veterans who deserved to be honored every day of the year.”
Jeffrey Ortiz is a retired United States Army Specialist. He proudly served as a MLRS Fire Direction Specialist in the Army from 2000-2003. Unfortunately, Ortiz and his three children lost their wife and mother to cancer in 2016. He tries to do his best as a single father but was laid off from his security job at his children’s school. Ortiz has a vehicle but is worried about its reliability since it is 25 years old. This is extra concerning since he uses it to secure his income from jobs with Door Dash and Uber. This refurbished vehicle will allow Ortiz to continue pushing forward with a positive attitude, making life more secure for his family.
Donald Chavies is a United States Army veteran having participated in Operation Enduring Freedom. He has multiple medical conditions and is in desperate need of a vehicle to travel to vital doctor’s appointments. Chavies lack of a vehicle also prevents him from visiting his four adult children. In 2023, a severe medical condition made it impossible for him to work and ended up leaving him homeless. But after working with the staff at the Rescue Mission in Trenton, NJ, he was able to be physically rehabilitated and to recently find permanent housing. A refurbished vehicle from the NABC Recycled Rides® program will allow Chavies to visit his children and continue with vital medical care. A vehicle would help give him his life back and also allow him to pay it forward by helping other veterans in need.
Ivette Caban is a mother of four, United States Army veteran, veteran advocate and church pastor. She enlisted in the Army in 1995, serving 10 years as a Medical Supply Specialist. She took missions to assist New Jersey residents on 9/11 and worked out of several duty stations until she was medically discharged in 2005. Now she works with New Jersey Veterans Network assisting veterans by helping them get off the streets, bringing them food, and counseling them in times of need. Caban does all of this with a vehicle that has many miles on it and has become increasingly unreliable. Her having unreliable transportation directly affects the community. Caban’s husband is out of work due to an injury and her four children rely on her transportation to get them to and from school. This refurbished vehicle will not only allow her to take care of her family but as a pastor, allow her the freedom to participate in food and clothing drives and to mentor those in need.
Robert Marshall is a veteran of the United States Navy, having served at the Brunswick Naval Air Station. After his service, he continued to volunteer and mentor young recruits entering the Armed Forces. After becoming disabled and in desperate need of a vehicle, Marshall struggles to get to his doctor’s appointments, largely relying on public transportation when it is available. He must rely on others to go grocery shopping for him and is only able to leave his apartment once or twice a week. The most important reason for a refurbished vehicle from NABC Recycled Rides®, it would allow Marshall to see his 89-year-old mother who is living in a nursing home. After seeing her on a regular basis, it has now been two years since he was able to visit her. Seeing his mother again would allow her to progress in a nursing home until he is able to once again care for her himself.
Robert Marshall, has not been able to visit his mother, who is 90 years old, for the last two years due to lack of transportation.
“This car is a blessing for me, my mother and my children,” said Marshall. “ I will be able to visit my mother who is in the nursing home two hours away. That is the first place I am going. And I will be able to see my best friend, who I also haven’t seen in two years. I just want to thank everybody that helped make this happen.”
GEICO, a Level One partner of the National Auto Body Council®, has donated more than a thousand vehicles to people and organizations through NABC Recycled Rides, making it the largest car donor partner of NABC Recycled Rides.
Dynasty Auto Body, an I-CAR Gold Certified repair facility, and a member of Certified Collision Group, has a culture of giving back to the community, and especially helping our veterans. Owner John Hamdan and his team have participated in refurbishing and gifting 21 vehicles through the NABC Recycled Rides® program.
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 3,500 vehicles valued at some $51 million.
Additional partners in this presentation include: PPG, NAPA, LKQ, Dent Wizard, Atlantic Auto Glass, Glen Toyota, Dover Dodge Colours Certified Towing & Recovery LLC, Silver Star Alloy Wheels, Fenix, Toyota of Morristown, Copart, Enterprise, Advanced Remarketing Services, Cars for Charity
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 3,500 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.