|
Vehicles for Change (VFC) is excited to welcome national automotive personality, author, and Girls Auto Clinic Repair Center owner, Patrice Banks! She will host our upcoming Women and Wheels Car Care Clinic, and stay for a book signing afterward on September 30th from 1-3 pm.
The self-named sheCANic, who has been featured on Oprah.com, Harry, CBS, NBC and ABC News, will guest host, Women and Wheels, VFC's female-friendly auto workshop. She will talk about her new book, Girls Auto Clinic Glove Box Guide, a one-stop do-it-herself guide to auto maintenance, repairs, and roadside emergencies. Banks, who owns the Girls Auto Clinic Repair Center in Upper Darby, is the inspiration for VFC's Women and Wheels Car Care Clinic. She conducts her own Girls Auto Clinics at her shop, which sell out consistently.
This event is free and open to the public and light refreshments will be provided. Register
here
to reserve your spot. For more information, contact 410-242-0732 or FullCircle@vehiclesforchange.org.
|
|
|
Erum’s daily commute takes four hours total via public transportation. She often runs late walking her two children to daycare and misses her connector bus.
Erum is excited for the independence that her VFC car award will bring her family. “(My car) will save me time and money that I always end up paying to the daycare provider when I run late.” Her children will register in after school sports and other activities. Erum’s commute time will be cut in half, and she is going to children on day trips. You can read more recipient stories on our blog,
here.
|
|
Check out Freedom Wheels’
2004 Volvo XC70 in Silver
, only $6,895. It has leather trim interior! Call 410-242-9678 for more information or to arrange a test drive.
|
|
|
Margaret Dunning
Foundation
|
|
VFC Detroit received a grant of $135,000 from the Margaret Dunning Foundation to support an expansion of their Full Circle Auto Repair and Training Center. The grant will allow more people in need to enter into the automotive training program that provides unemployed and underemployed Detroiters the opportunity to receive ASE training and hands-on experience as mechanics.
|
|
The Margaret Dunning Foundation was founded by Ms. Dunning, pictured above, in 1997.
She was a successful businesswoman widely known for her love of classic cars and her civic generosity.
The Foundation supports charitable programs primarily in western Wayne County, Michigan, and educational programs focused on the automobile and transportation industries.
|
|
Basic automotive knowledge is always a plus when it comes to car maintenance, and it can also be a springboard for a career. Vehicles for Change (VFC) is no stranger to job-readiness, their Full Circle Auto Repair and Training Program has placed over 40 previously unemployed/underemployed individuals in automotive industry jobs. Now, VFC has entered into a partnership with Catholic Charities of Baltimore to train a class of men and women in basic automotive technology. This sponsored class, which consists of 13 students, is called VFC Auto Lab. It is a three-month introductory automotive technology class that aims to open a door of opportunity where there was none for program participants.
Master Mechanic and VFC Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) Instructor, Wayne Farrar, has taken on this new challenge with great excitement, saying, “It’s always a pleasure to teach people who want to learn.” Of the program, he explains, “We’re going to start out with vehicle maintenance and step up into brakes and steering suspension but since it’s a brand new program I need to find out what level I can take them and how far I can go with them.”
The students are equally excited about VFC Auto Lab, which combines classroom work and lab work in the auto garage at Full Circle Service Center. Although they will not be repairing cars for a while, they are learning the fundamentals of shop safety, correct tools, and systems within automobiles, which are the foundation elements for an automotive career. VFC Auto Lab student, Virgil Curry, remarked, “I knew I wanted a career in automotive technology. Probably later, I will be a Service Writer, but right now I want to be an automotive technician.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
