Six body shops from New York's Long Island donated their time and talent to restore six vehicles for families of veteran military personnel in need of reliable transportation.

The shops are members of National Auto Body Council (NABC) and the Long Island Auto Body Repairmen's Association. They all participated in NABC's 2009 Recycled Rides program. The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Suffolk County Council and the Suffolk County Veterans Service Agency helped identify the military individuals who needed vehicles. The insurance companies involved in donating vehicles are GEICO, Progressive, Allstate and Travelers.

The participating shops that refurbished the vehicles are 112 Automotive Center in Patchogue, Mike G's Perfection Auto Body in Miller Place, Vittorio's Auto Body in Huntington, Mid Island Collision in Rockville Center, J&J Auto Body in Ronkonkoma and Riverhead Collision in Riverhead. The ride away day of the recycled rides will be at 10 a.m., March 13, at the VFW Hall 31 on Horseblock Road in Centereach.

The Recycled Rides program is a nationwide awareness project where NABC members refurbish and donate recycled vehicles to families in need in their communities. It is a community relations program intended to build goodwill at the local level, while promoting the image of the collision industry on a national level.

Insurance companies and paint and parts vendors donate their resources to assist collision repair facilities in making this project possible. NABC recently announced the 2010 Recycled Rides project is underway with the goal of donating 150 refurbished vehicles to families throughout the U.S.

For more information, visit www.recycledrides.org.