 Long Island Auto Body Repair Shops have joined together to help six local military families in need. The repairers are members of the National Auto Body Council (NABC) and have partnered to participate in the nationwide vehicle-gifting program called Recycled Rides. “Our goal with this project is to help people right here in our local community; we utilized the Recycled Rides program because of the great toolkit and tremendous resources the NABC has assembled,” says Joseph Amodei from 112 Automotive in Patchogue, N.Y. Amodei and his team participated in last year’s program and decided to recruit other repair shops into the program this year. “Together; we can help more families who are in need of a reliable vehicle, this is something many of us take for granted,” Amodei says. “These are men and women who served our country and for one reason or another need our help. When I reached out to my competitors I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly they jumped in to help. We do have good, community-oriented repairers around Long Island.” The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Suffolk County Council http://www.vfw.org/ and the Suffolk County Veterans Service Agency have identified the families in need utilizing the Recycled Rides programs recipient criteria. Local politicians and dignitaries are expected to attend the gifting event to be held in a local community center. Insurance companies involved in donating the vehicles are, Allstate, GEICO, Progressive and Travelers. The participating repair facilities are: 112 Automotive in Patchogue, Riverhead Collision in Riverhead, Mike G's Perfection Auto Body in Miller Place, Vittorio's Auto Body in Huntington, Mid Island Collision in Rockville Center, and J&J Auto Body in Ronkonkoma. The shops also are members of the Long Island Auto Body Repairmen's Association (LIABRA). “As a local trade association we are proud that these six members are meeting the goal of the NABC by helping local families and enhancing the image of the Collision Repair Industry,” says Ed Kizenberger, LIABRA executive director. “Coming together to work on these vehicles has been a great experience, not only for me, but for my entire staff.” says Michael Giordano of Mike G’s Perfection Auto Body. “This is a great way for our team to help in our community.” “We are grateful Joe came to us and asked us to participate,” says Bill Tonyes from J&J Autobody. “These vehicles are going to make six families Christmas very, very special.” Recycled Rides is a community awareness project where members of the NABC repair and donate recycled vehicles to families and service organizations in need throughout the United States. Recycled Rides recruits auto body shops, insurers, paint suppliers and parts vendors to contribute. Recycled Rides is scheduled to make 100 vehicle donations this holiday season. For more information, visit www.autobodycouncil.org. | ||
