Peace through practicality

Compassion, kindness, and generous giving. Have you ever felt need of any of those things? Then you know that they often come in the shape of something really practical. It might be a hot casserole or a warm coat. You may experience it through a friend’s skill in car repair or plumbing. Felt needs (like food, housing, and safety) require kindness that helps to actually meet the need.

Peace can feel a bit more elusive. We hear a lot about it at this time of year. For some — perhaps for those whose felt needs have been met — it can be an interior state of being. “I feel peaceful,” or “I long for peace in my life.”

For others — perhaps we can safely say this is true of most of the world’s population today — the absence of peace is felt keenly. When “home” has been razed and your loved ones have fled. Where food and shelter and drinkable water are absent. When someone you love has been lost. Peace in these places is not theoretical or esoteric or mystical. Not when angry and frightened men are shooting at other angry and frightened men.

Hope for an aching world

It can feel overwhelming to hear stories of our politically disrupted world. But around here? We see the very best of Canadian Goodness every day!

Peace was top-of-heart when Seema chose to donate her 2011 Grand Caravan:

Togethering seems to be the only way to get this right, doesn’t it? One gift at a time. Helping one charity at a time. Individual Canadians giving to the works of practical peace and compassion that they love.

Our Christmas wish for you and yours

However you and I might align — and differ — politically, theologically, demographically…and all of the other “cally” we can muster, this is true: peace is up to me. It is up to you.

May you be met by provision, safety, and companionship of the very best sort this holiday season. Certainly you will do your utmost to meet others with the same. May the generosity you so freely share come back to you! And may 2025 end on a note of hope for what is yet to come.

May you be well…in all things.

Peace.

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Elections, Canada, and constructive conversation

It’s time! I can zip downtown to vote (early) in my riding in small-town Alberta today. I’ve just given a listen to some of the English debate. It’s time for me to make a decision about how I will mark my ballot.

I’m a gal from a very specific demographic: 50+ year-old white woman, born and raised in Western Canada. I had the luxury of a middle-class upbringing, including a bit of post-secondary education. A very specific demographic.

I listen to the debates with clear understanding that the bias I hold may be different from the bias of my (dear!) neighbors. Our views are rarely the same. Polarization is boss right now. On all issues, it seems. A dash of hope popped up on one of my neighborhood walks last week. I noticed a lawn sign that jumped out. It read, “There is no room for hate here.” That. How can we, despite our so-many-feelings perspectives, move toward that.

O, Canada!

Elections Canada is doing the work of keeping our democracy chugging along. It’s ok! Insert opinions here, and we’ll make space for them all, right? The fact that we’re all free to have our opinions is gift.

What can we do while the process does what the process does?

So. Many. Things!

Even while we feel a bit off-kilter and unsure of ourselves (and each other…and the whole world), we can continue to be our most beautiful selves.

We can be kind. We can respect one another’s right to think, believe, hope, resist. It’s important to be curious and critical. Building our communities and supporting our front-line workers is necessary. We can buy locally, tip generously, and take loving care of our families.

And we can take care of each other. Even if we don’t see eye-to-eye. Because that’s what Canadians do.

Going bigger

Over the years I’ve benefitted from Elections Canada work. I’ve been a DRO and an RO and other role names I don’t recall. I’ve scrawled my initials across many ballots and wrangled some really (really!) big, angry voters. On one occasion, I even chased — and captured — a dog through one of Western Canada’s busiest polling stations! Not my most graceful (or gracious) moment in doing my civic duty, but certainly my most memorable.

A small kindness that may make a big difference? Thank those who are working for 18-plus hours on election day. They’re going to be counting our votes until late in the night. Not for big bucks. Because they care about this process.

Thousands of charities are yours for the choosing

If you want to go super-big in our aim for being the very best sorts of humans we can be, consider our Canadian charities.

Charities coast-to-coast have been hit hard by…well…by all of The Things. Your vehicle donation (running, or broken down) can make such a difference for any Canadian charity you love!

Our donation form takes less than 10 minutes to fill out (either over the phone – 1-877-250-4904, or via our online form). Your tow is free and usually happens within 1 – 5 business days. And you receive a tax receipt from your chosen charity!

If this sounds like a way that you’d love to care for your country in confusing times, we’re here to keep the process simple, quick, free, and friendly!

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Can a season of minimalism offer peace?

Minimalism means different things to different folks. For most of us? It is an idea that takes time to percolate. Stuff and polish and over-fed bellies are a way of life. And, if you are like me, there comes a point where you feel excess…uncomfortably.

Indulgence and beauty and sweet things? They are some of life’s joys! But too much of a good thing can sour it.

I’m curious about the idea of simply, simply simplifying. Without obsessing or becoming austere, what would it be like to get by with less? In a lifelong quest for a quiet heart and a quiet mind, could it be that less stuff leads to less stress?

Splurgin’ and purgin’

The Christmas season is too-many-clowns-in-the-car crazy, right? It’s a sparkling sworl of nostalgia and something that feels like true holiday spirit. A funky mix of connecting with loved ones and loneliness. It’s a blend of spending and indulgence, scouring and scrubbing out.

A construction contractor I talked to last week said, “This is the busiest time of the year for us!”

I wondered why-on-earth? Who has time for home renos in December?

“It’s all about the company that’s coming for dinner! The husband has promised his wife the basement will be done before Christmas…and they end up calling us!”

If that isn’t a nudge toward, “There has to be a better way?”, I dunno what is!

Easing in to a simpler way

I like to keep life really cozy. Going full-out with minimalism won’t work for me. I love clay pots and candles and big blankets. Pictures on the wall and stacks of books feel like Home.

But there is something about not adding more. Now, at Christmastime, there is something about not adding to the stacks of stuff in my loved ones’ lives, too.

In November, I spent weeks fostering a wondering: what is my wish for my loves this year? I would notice when a little wave of guilt would swamp me. You might know that feeling? The one that punches you in the gut and demands that you get the right gift for every person you love? Historically, I would have had it all wrapped up by the end of October. So many gifts. Many, many dollars. And a lot of heart in it all. But something about it was just so intense.

I listened to the guilt, curious about what that was really all about.

I listened to the wish, too.

And I opted to follow the wish. In a time of global wobble and close-by vulnerability, my wish for the ones I care for is comfort, silliness, and connection. I can’t buy those things. They are concepts. Experiences. So I’ll get creative about how to offer the wish without adding to the pile under the tree.

Giving stuff away as a path to minimalism

An extension of that wish is giving stuff away. Clearing my full shelves and closets as I come across folks who need my things more than I do.

Can you relate to this gentle step toward living with less? It’s one of the ways Donate a Car Canada serves givers daily. We help when the thing you want to clear out is the size of a truck…literally! In this way, our small — and big — acts of giving become even bigger acts of conservation and community care.

Add to this the simplicity of this kind of donation. Giving simply becomes a joyful experience. Matchless!

So, here’s to you on your path to a simpler way. As you wonder about Christmas giving that is more intentional and less material. Or, as you give by letting go of some of the things already crowding your world. We wish you peace and curiosity in it all!

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter! There you will get an overall feel for how we care for each other and our charities. This is a caring community, here to serve you.

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Uvalde – Today’s reminder that we are all connected

Given the parameters of our work here at Donate a Car Canada, we have no wish to weigh in on the politics of anything. ‘Certainly not on the gut-wrenching Awful of the Uvalde school shooting. I saw a graph of what has been happening with school shootings in the the United States last night. It is confounding. Appalling. So many babies lost. So, I weep. And I get rage-y. But I also get curious about how to respond in ways that are just. Meaningful. Active. Right here in my own beautiful country.

In our little bubble of caring work here, we are so, so lucky! We see the scope of Good Work that Canadian charities lovingly engage in. We know that there are volunteers and paid workers toiling and serving and creating every day. They are applying themselves with so much heart to the very work that saves the lives of children. The people at the helm of our participating charities help make sense of the senseless.

The experience of suffering is something that connects us. Headline news (war, economic crisis, pandemic, and violent acts) is certainly a shared and collective trauma. And we each experience that suffering in our own ways.

One way to be with headlining tragedy

Do you ever feel a bit powerless in the face of heartbreaking news like that out of Uvalde? Or, do events like the Uvalde violence (or Buffalo’s just a hearbeat before that…not to mention the Ukraine), leave you with an angry energy that needs an outlet?

I understand those feelings, too. The rage and wish and empathy and indignation. Maybe you have robust ways of tending to those things in yourself? For myself, some rhythms of contemplation, mindfulness, and physical exercise help. Those practices can help with my own mental-emotional-spiritual health.

But sometimes we need to DO something. We need to help. Making some kind of contribution in a tangible way feels so important. Helping in practical ways seems to help our internal processing of impossibly big feelings about these kinds of circumstances.

I cannot help the grieving families in Uvalde. My reach for providing real assistance in the Ukraine is limited.

I can help here. At home. I can support teachers and care givers. My volunteerism and donating might aid distress lines or hand-up services for youth in crisis. By educating myself I can expand reach and understanding around issues of inclusion and equality. My practice of caring can chip away at barriers to mental health care and compassion for those who are chronically ill.

We can get involved

If you are doing your bit of good, and I am doing mine, will we build a healthier society? Overall? Or, at least, a gentler Canada? I’ll do my bit for empathy and dignifying inclusion. You do the same in the ways that feel alive and true for you. And soon, between you, me, and the people we love, might we find ourselves in a world where one child does not feel their only course of action is to take the lives of other little ones?

We are set up to partner with ANY Canadian charity. If you pop over to CanadaHelps and explore their charity list, you’ll find we can work on behalf of all of those charities, too!

Pick a cause. Perhaps, for today, it will be a cause that is shaping the lives of children and care givers and teens? Through music, sport, employment services, or distress care, we turn our attention to Canada’s unique needs and give there. In this way, might we bear witness to our connection to Uvalde?

We have so many children’s charities to choose from. If you would like to attend to your need to help by donating a car, here is a short list to get your creative giving juices flowing? Consider,

What happens when you donate a vehicle?

When you donate your car, truck, van, SUV, or motorcycle, the net proceeds go to your cause. You fill out a 5 minute online form. We arrange your free tow. Your charity receives the funds, and you get a tax receipt.

We know this won’t right terrible wrongs like the parade of awful we see in the headlines these days. But your giving does seed Goodness. Caring. A commitment to acting on empathy. And that is a kind of justice all its own. The kind that invites another such action, and then another, and then one more. And that’s where we’re at with this today: I’ll do what I can. You do what you’ve got it in you to do. We’ll take care of each other. One loving act at a time.

The post Caring for Canada’s Kids | A response to Uvalde, Texas appeared first on Donate A Car.

Ukraine conflict gathering support here at home

Our socials are going to be acknowledging the war in Ukraine often in the weeks ahead. Many of our charities are doing what they can to lend aid. Your car, truck, van, SUV, or motorcycle donation can make a difference around the world. Here is a quick list of some of the organizations you know and love:

Some guidance from the Red Cross

The Canadian Red Cross has offered,

“Although the situation is evolving, what is clear is there has been a massive
escalation in hostilities. The humanitarian consequences of this crisis will be vast.
The Canadian Red Cross has been in close communication with the Ukrainian
Red Cross Society (URCS) and has contributed to their preparedness efforts.
These include personnel, equipment, and training.

Here’s how the Red Cross is responding:
• The URCS has 2,000 volunteers and 550 staff working across Ukraine. We know they will need our steadfast support in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
• The URCS is currently assisting those impacted with livelihoods support,
psychological support. They are also operating mobile health teams.
• Working alongside the URCS, the international Red Cross Movement is
responding to existing and growing humanitarian needs by delivering urgent
assistance, including food, fuel for heating, medical supplies, and support
for housing.

The Canadian Red Cross is supporting preparedness and response efforts. They
remain in close contact with Red Cross Movement partners on how to
best support those affected in Ukraine and surrounding countries.”

Donation dollar matching

Some charities are having their Ukraine conflict donations matched by the government. You may wish to explore this possibility with the charity you plan to support.

If you have an unused or unwanted vehicle that you have been considering donating, now is the time!

The tow is always free, and the process is simple. Your charity of choice will not pay anything for our service. Furthermore, you will receive a tax receipt!

Whether your car, truck, van, SUV, or motorcycle is recycled or re-sold, the donation dollars help!

The post Ukraine Conflict | We Can Help appeared first on Donate A Car.

You won’t believe how many happy minivan donors we’ve served in just one month!

Dusty the Dodge Caravan is grand indeed

We love processing minivans for your charity’s vehicle donation program! Here’s what one Grand Caravan donor had to say,

“Our 1997 Dodge Caravan was just picked up by Steven, a tow truck operator
working for the Armstrong agent. The removal went very smoothly.

This whole process has gone smoothly from the beginning. All of you at
Donate A Car Canada have been friendly and a pleasure to deal with. The way
your email instructions are designed are clear and easy to follow.

Thank you so very much for your attention to detail and email follow ups.
We name all the vehicles we’ve ever owned and “Dusty” has carried loads of
Girl Guides on camping trips over the years. It’s been a bit emotional
today saying goodbye to this old safe transporter friend. Thank you for
making it easier for me.” ~ D & K. K. ~

Minivan donation helps Transforming Faces

Dusty’s donors’ charity of choice was Transforming Faces. TF champions kiddos around the world. They believe, “Children born with cleft lip and palate deserve to be supported every step of the way. Comprehensive cleft care makes that possible.”

So many more minivans, so many more charities!

Dusty and his legacy of giving is storied. We share in the gratitude and affection donors have for their long-serving cars, trucks, and vans. These minivans are much more than metal and rubber. They can feel like members of the family!

Many times our donors keep their donation stories close. We aren’t privvy to the deeply personal reasons a charity has been chosen. The reasons for donating are as varied as the donors themselves! So are the charities.

Check out our Dodge Caravan donations from just this past month. Donors gave their 1992’s and their 2002’s…and many more! Below is a quick list to give you an idea of how your charity of choice might be helped. You can find detailed charity mission statements and locations on our charities page if you need a hand making your own choice.

Alberta Cancer Foundation: $120.00 (This one was a remote area Alberta pick-up.)

Canadian Cancer Society received three gifts for $250.00, $3791.25, and $500.00.

Canadian Mental Health Association Windsor-Essex County: $500.00

Covenant House Vancouver was gifted two Caravans totaling $300.00 and $3140.25!

Diabetes Canada received a scrap-ready donation in BC.

Health Sciences Centre Foundation: $250.00

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada: $300.00

Make-A-Wish Canada: $450.00

People Ensuring Animal Care Exists (P.E.A.C.E) received a scrap-ready donation.

Peterborough Humane Society: $500.00

Pregnancy Care Centre: $310.00

SPCA Newfoundland & Labrador – St. John’s Branch: $100.00

Company minivans help 5 more charities

Canadian companies are generous in their fleet donations. Our Dodge Caravan donors aided these five charities with donations adding up to over $2000.00 on scrap-ready company vans!

Heart and Stroke Foundation

Kidney Cancer Canada

Kids with Cancer Society of Northern Alberta

Rotary Flames House (Alberta Children’s Hospital)

Sudbury Manitoulin Children’s Foundation

Ready to roll with your own donation?

You’ll see from our social media and blog posts that your charity may have a donation program supported by us here at Donate a Car Canada. Donate with very high expectations! You will experience excellent donor care. We will seek the highest dollar return for the charity of choice. Furthermore, your charity does not pay for this service in any way.

We’re just a click or a call (1-877-250-4904) away!

The post Dodge Caravan Donors Care appeared first on Donate A Car.

One year, myriad challenges

2020. This was a Hollywood blockbuster thriller/adventure movie of a year. Seeing this year in the rearview mirror is welcome relief for many Canadians. Others, despite health-economic-isolation upheaval, express gratitude for the year’s gifts.

We share in the experience of restricted freedoms; we are widely diverse in how we manage (and interpret) those limitations. All of us find our economics altered; each of us has felt that in unique ways. Some of us have fallen ill; others have been in support roles to all kinds of disrupted care and keeping around health issues.

On a global scale, we are facing into questions of security, purpose, and loneliness. We are afraid and creative; at peace and so angry.

Who will I be in 2020?

Most certainly, this year has reminded us of how little over which we have control. For you that may be an issue of human rights. Perhaps you’ve taken a political or ideological or theological position. Maybe you’ve bunkered-down safely into your own view, feeling informed and sure of your own perspective. Alternatively, you are opting to trust the science and systems of the society that has served you well to date. You may find yourself at odds with the people you love as opinions and fears and hopes all scrabble for footing.

Through it all, there is only one thing that we can truly control: who will I be in this moment? On this day? As I enter a new year, how will I live-love-give-help-withdraw-pause?

I need to keep it simple

With a world on the wobble, I find the need to consistently simplify my own Way of Being. What is my intention in this moment? This interaction? What about my intention for the month? For myself, I keep that simple: I wish to cooperate with Goodness — for all. Goodness toward myself, and for those that I love. ‘To cooperate with Goodness for every new person I encounter. Further, to participate with the Goodness that lives in the one I disagree with.

Our boss offers her own sage process: Prepare, then Live. That is, do the thing(s) you have actual control over, and then go about the business of Living your own loving life.

For some of us, that will mean grieving deeply. 2020 hurled loss and sorrow our way. Sometimes living our own loving life means that we need to turn inward — to love our own Self back to health and wholeness.

Others of us have not been dealt so cruel a blow (or blows). Perhaps we have the resources and strength to keep taking deep breaths, rolling up our sleeves, and offering steady-on courage in the midst of radically adapting Everything.

Take care of each other

2020 has been a great Teacher. We understand more clearly today what is most valuable to us. How we spend our time and limited resources may never be the same. Our ways of taking care of one another will deepen. That feels important, hey?

Whatever the disruption of 2020 has unfurled in your life, we here at Donate a Car Canada wish you Health — in body, mind, and spirit. We wish you provision: enough to live, and enough to share. May your relationships be rich in humor and tenderness. And may Comfort and Peace find you in all of the inbetweens.

The post 2020 in the Rearview appeared first on Donate A Car.

Finding peace in a disrupted time is tough. For many of our receiving charities, that’s they’re work-a-day gig. They companion people in disrupted life circumstances.

What is peace, anyway?

The word peace may mean something different to you than it does to me. For some, peace is a feeling of calm, or the absence of conflict. Some people experience peace as the lack of any emotion at all. Others feel at peace when they have a sense of control in their lives.

I’ve come to identify peace as a quiet heart. Sometimes that means a feeling of spaciousness in my mind, heart, or even body. Another way of describing that is the ability to take a deep, deep breath — a feeling of relaxation and permission even when circumstances are very difficult.

That seems to be an important thing about peace? It is a sense of rightness, quiet, or well-being even when things all around are wobbling. Maybe even downright awful.

Can I find calm…even now?

What has the COVID-19 Pandemic been like for you? Are you having difficult finding peace in the midst of global fear? There are resources near you that can give you a little back-up if that’s what you need. Seek them out. Your mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health are worth the effort.

You may be someone who has had a gentle experience of this unprecedented upheaval. If so, might you be one who offers peace to others? You may be one of the helpers. If so, thank you! Please take care of your Self while you’re reaching out to others. And if you’re having moments when a quiet heart is illusive, reach out for your own supports, ok? We need you to keep getting your own cup filled up so that you can continue to share with others.

What DACC is doing to help

Here at Donate a Car Canada we continue to work through this crisis time to aid Canadian charities in their ongoing work. Sometimes cool cash is the best way to bring calm into the midst of a storm. Part of our role in all of this is to keep right on processing vehicle donations. Those donations result in the much-needed dollars our charities depend on to keep purveying goodness in our hurting world. Thank you for considering how you might be a part of that!

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