Recently, 15 deserving veterans and their families were honored at USAA headquarters in San Antonio, TX, and presented with National Auto Body Council (NABC) Recycled Rides® vehicles.
All the cars were donated by USAA and were refurbished by collision repair partners Service King/Crash Champions, which repaired five of the vehicles; Caliber Collision, which also restored five vehicles; Performance Collision of Effingham, SC, a Certified Collision Group affiliate, which refurbished three vehicles; and Gerber Collision & Glass, which refurbished two vehicles.
The presentation was part of USAA’s 100th anniversary celebration, through which it gifted some 100 NABC Recycled Rides vehicles to military families across the country, including Nashville, Seattle, Chesapeake, Savannah, Charlotte, Colorado Springs, Denver, Phoenix, Tampa, San Diego and San Antonio.
“USAA is proud to celebrate our 100th anniversary and our 100th vehicle gifted as we recognize 15 veterans and present them the gift of reliable transportation,” said Neal Rideout, senior vice president of Property & Casualty Distribution and Service, USAA. “Our commitment is to serve our military members, and we are proud to help these veterans and their families with the gift of reliable transportation to help them along their journey. Thank you to our many partners for making this possible.”
For 100 years, USAA’s mission has served active-duty service members, veterans and their families. Recipients have been nominated by nonprofit organizations to receive a NABC Recycled Ride. With the partnership of the NABC, a nonprofit committed to serving its communities, and many in the collision repair industry, vehicles are repaired and donated to those identified as in need of reliable transportation.
The recipients included:
- U.S. Army veteran Willard Foust, who received a 2017 Dodge Caravan repaired by Caliber Collision–IH-10
- U.S. Marine Corps veteran Eli LeQuang, who was presented a 2018 Honda Civic refurbished by Caliber Collision San Antonio–San Pedro Ave.
- U.S. Army veteran Alfred Wilkinson, who was gifted a 2017 Honda Accord repaired by Caliber Collision San Antonio–Downtown/Broadway
- U.S. Air Force veteran Sarah Alvarez, who received a 2019 Volkswagen Jetta restored by Caliber Collision San Antonio–Austin Highway
- U.S. Air Force Reserve veteran Benigno Salas Jr., who was presented a 2018 Hyundai Elantra refurbished by Caliber Collision San Antonio-Converse
- U.S. Army veteran Danielle Walker, who received a 2018 Mazda CX-5 repaired by Service King/Crash Champions Universal City
- U.S. Navy Seaman Seth McGraw, who was presented a 2019 Jeep Compass restored by Service King/Crash Champions Thousand Oaks and outfitted with hand controls by Freedom Mobility
- U.S. Air Force veteran Julia Orozco, who was gifted a 2017 Honda Civic repaired by Service King/Crash Champions San Pedro
- U.S. Army veteran Edward Moreno, who was presented a 2020 Nissan Versa restored by Service King/Crash Champions Babcock
- U.S. Army veteran Rhekia Terrell, who received a 2019 Hyundai Elantra refurbished by Service King/ Crash Champions Bandera
- U.S. Army veteran Brittany Kolodgie, who was gifted a 2019 Kia Sorento repaired by Performance Collision in Effingham, SC
- U.S. Navy veteran Tiffany Kane, who received a 2021 Honda Accord Sport refurbished by Performance Collision
- U.S. Air Force veteran John "Jack" McCloskey, who was gifted a 2018 Nissan Versa repaired by Performance Collision
- U.S. Army veteran Jonathan Rosario, who was presented a 2018 Toyota RAV 4 restored by Gerber Collision & Glass Pflugerville
- U.S. Army veteran Ignacio Prieto, who received a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 refurbished by Gerber Collision & Glass Austin/12th St.
The NABC shared its gratitude for USAA’s tremendous commitment to giving back to military members.
“It is exciting to join our member USAA in their 100th anniversary celebration, and we are grateful to all of our members Service King/Crash Champions, Caliber Collision and Glass, Performance Collision/Certified Collision Group, Gerber Collision & Glass, which refurbished all of today’s beautiful vehicles, for making this the largest NABC Recycled Rides presentation in our history,” said Scott Sampley, chairman of the NABC Board of Directors. “We are proud to meet these veterans and their families and hear their stories. We are indebted to their service to our country and are committed to helping them continue their path to independence and success with the gift of reliable transportation.”
Additional partners in the presentation included 1.800.Charity.Cars, Enterprise, LKQ, Axalta and SafeLite, among others.
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 NABC have donated more than 3,000 vehicles valued at some $42 million.
Source: NABC
Abby Andrews