Wheels for Warmth program donates $28,000
Toolbox
By SUSAN ALLEN TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: November 19, 2009
MONTPELIER — This year's annual Wheels for Warmth fundraiser, which provides affordable winter tires and home-heating aid for low-income Vermonters, raised more than $28,000 – money that will directly benefit about 300 central Vermont families.
That was the word earlier this week from organizers, including state Sen. Phil Scott, R-Washington, who launched the program five years ago, as they spoke during an afternoon celebration at the Statehouse to honor volunteers who helped with the event.
"We saw the need," said Scott, presenting a mock check to Hal Cohen, executive director of the Central Vermont Community Action Council. Scott said there were 400 people or more lined up before Wheels for Warmth opened for business that Saturday morning, waiting to buy affordable tires priced at no more than $15 each.
"People needed tires more this year than they had in the past," Scott said.
Cohen said there was also a pressing need for heating aid, noting that his organization was recently forced to turn away 200 families who were seeking fuel assistance. The money from Wheels for Warmth sales, he added, would directly benefit about 300 families – those who earn slightly too much to qualify for federal aid.
"To all of you, a very special thank you," he told the volunteers. "It's really desperate times. This year we saw people really fighting over tires. This really helps these families who are just not making it."
Scott said about 1,400 tires were donated for resale (they are dropped off either before or during the event, and inspected by the Department of Motor Vehicles to not only pass inspection, but last a full season). Over the five years of the program, he noted, about 5,800 tires have been sold.
Another 3,000 tires were unusable and put into a recycling program rather than end up in landfills or along roadsides, Scott said. Donors paid $4 per tire to have them recycled, and Casella Waste Management donated the money to the cause. A total of 9,380 tires have been recycled over the five years of the program, he said.
"We were able to put them to good use," Scott said.
This year a second tire drop-off site was added in Morrisville, where about 500 tires – 150 of them usable – were brought.
Scott said the night before the sale there were 1,200 tires ready for sale. By 8:30 a.m. the following morning, all but 100 had been purchased. He said people kept bringing in tires throughout the day, however, which kept the sales going.
He said the recession was reflected in the slight dip in usable tires being donated this year, with many people holding on to their older tires for one extra season because they can't afford to buy new snow tires this year.
"Next year we can get it back," he predicted.
Scott said he expected the Morrisville drop-off to produce more tires next year with increased advertising. In addition, he said he hopes to get at least one more drop-off site going next year, possibly in Chittenden or Orange counties.
Sen. Richard Mazza, D-Chittenden/Grand Isle, who donated food and spent the day cooking hamburgers during the Wheels for Warmth event, called the effort "remarkable."
"This is something that's going to go statewide someday," predicted Mazza. "It's just fun working on it."
Companies that donated materials and manpower included WDEV, Casella Waste Management, Associated General Contractors, Bond Auto, Lamberton Electric, Jet Service, the Department of Motor Vehicles, Booth Brothers, Howard Manosh, Capitol Grounds, Brookfield Service, CCS Construction, and McGillicuddy's owner Dave Nelson.
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