Center Collision Car Giveaway Podcast

Bill and Candace are hosting a show called The Disruptors. They haven't worked together since before the pandemic, but now they have a new opportunity. Bill is the technical advisor and Candace will interview guests. However, Candace is struggling with the intro and they have some funny exchanges. They then discuss a car giveaway event called Wheels to Prosper, where a deserving person in the community receives a reliable vehicle. They talk about the criteria for the car donations and the volunteers. They also mention ways to support the event through cash donations and providing gas cards. The event is a festive occasion with food trucks and balloons. They are working to spread awareness about the event and encourage people to submit nominations. I'm Bill. And I'm Candace. And we're the Disruptors. Before we start the show, I want to set the stage for you. You know, it had been quite some time since Candace and myself had worked the show, The Disruptors. It was a very popular show for us, and the last show was right before the pandemic. Well, we hadn't had an opportunity to work together since then. And now, this great opportunity came for us to get together in a new studio and do another show. Well, the plan was that I would be the technical advisor and do the production end of it. Candace would interview individual guests about what the show was about. But for some reason, Candace drew a blank. And whatever happened from the moment that I said, OK, we're ready, let's go, you can tell by the sounds of what you're going to hear that it just didn't work out well. So here we go. Candace, take one. It's time to speak now. I understand that. But when we do our welcome, it's always been. Hi, I'm Bill. What are you new? We've been doing this for how many years? Oh, we're not doing the intro. That's right. That's right. We're not even married. Oh, I've got to record it. OK, well, you know what? It doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel right. Oh, for goodness sake. Come on. High energy. OK, let's go. Are you ready? Hi, I'm Gil. One, two, three. Last 40 seconds is brought to you by... I know that I really thought we were going to do our intro. No, I do. I have it on. Seriously, I have our recording. OK, I need it. Psychologically, I need it. Now I'm telling you my needs. I need it because it sets the stage so that it sets the stage for me to intro these beautiful humans properly. OK, yeah, drag your patootles over here. OK, ready? I'm Bill. And I'm Candace. And we're the Disruptors. Hi, Bill. Welcome to the show. So glad you could finally make it. I'm leaving. I'm going now. Back to the booth. OK, there you go. Now you can do it. Can we start now? I had already started. Oh, good. OK, continue, please. I'll wait. Honestly, I've got 25 hours and six minutes on this chip. So take your time. I need one of those chips. Speak. Start that conversation. Let's talk. That's your cue. Go ahead. So, Bill, I'm so glad you could finally show up. I'm so glad to be here. So let's just kind of roll on with the show. That's what I'm trying to do is the intro. So I'm glad that you showed up. We always do this, Bill. What is what is different about this? You're procrastinating is different. It's usually you yell at me or something. I'm about ready to rip your tongue out of your head and hang you by it. So instead, we'll just move forward because I don't understand this. And you're acting. They have a loving work relationship. Yeah, it's just great. It's just great. You know, I'm ready to go now that we've put out all that. I have four rotary wives for the same reason. Well, sometimes it takes a village. It does. Yeah, it does. OK. OK, so go ahead and start. OK, so you've got the intro. So I'm picking up from the intro. OK, sure. Well, I see you finally found your parking spot, Bill. Why would you ask me that question? I didn't ask. It was a yes. I found it. I think you're you're you're dropping something, sir. No, I'm not dropping anything with your microphone in the middle. I'm going to push this button and you're going to be OK, so we can get started here. I'm Candace, and today we're going to be talking about. You're not Candace. No, I'm not. No, you're Bill. Oh, I'm Gil. That's Kevin. Who are you? What's on first? Well, Bill, I'm really excited today to have on the show. We've got Kevin, who's from Center Collision, and we are very blessed to have both Kevin and Gil Quante here, who is from. Hi, Gil. You and your radio voice. Hi, I'm from. Let's see. I do emcee and voiceover work, but mostly retired. And occasionally I take on gigs like working with Kevin on a car giveaway. I love to hear that you're changing the world now. Now, first of all, talk to me, first of all, about what you guys are doing and how you're pulling the community together. You want to start? Sure. Well, Candace, this will be the seventh year, but what we've done is created an opportunity to us basically, to put it in a nutshell, to make our community a better place. And we do that by giving a deserving person in the community a working, reliable vehicle. And so we started doing this, I think it was like 2016 was the first time. And we are seeking out nominations for somebody in the community. So that's really what we're trying to do right now, is just get people to have the awareness to know that there's going to be a car giveaway on July 13th at 11 o'clock at Center Collision. And we were asking people to submit a nomination so that they could potentially have somebody that they know receive the car. Yeah, Candace, I got involved with it because you know me quite well, and I'm involved with a lot of, I call them do-gooders, but charities and relationships with all sorts of them. And I see volunteers there. And sometimes you see one that's getting there to do that volunteer work by bus or getting a ride or even walking. And in fact, my first experience with the car giveaway, Wheels to Prosper, the car giveaway, was somebody that was walking to do volunteer work. And so I am reaching out to a lot of the people I know to send them the link to our application or hand out an application so that they can volunteer that community worker. And you said that was Wheels of? Wheels to Prosper. Wheels to Prosper. I think that's awesome. It is so cool. What a great name. I wish I could say I came up with it. But the two friends that started this years ago, actually, one's not in the industry anymore. And the other one is kind of on his way out. But I thought it was brilliant, you know, I mean, because it really tells people what this is all about. You know, we want people to prosper. And, you know, in our society, wheels are a good portion of how we get from here to there. Absolutely. And now how many cars do you, I realize you're doing one car, but if people want to donate a car, do you accept donations or? So we've had, that's a really good question. A lot of people have inquired about that. You know, like, hey, I got a car I want to donate. The thing is, we. It's not donate a problem, really. I said, it's really not donate a problem. Right. So we have a bit of a criteria. So basically, the criteria is less than 10 years old, four doors, automatic transmission, and a ride around 100,000 miles or less. So if the car fits that criteria, that's a wonderful car to donate. But there have been people that have wanted to donate something that just didn't quite fit that. And so we can't, you know, we want to offer a vehicle to a person and not create a problem for them. So we want it just to last them. Matter of fact, the good example of the 2016, Jasmine was the first girl that received a vehicle. She's still driving it today. So that's what we want to see is a good, reliable car that is not going to financially burden the person. And Kevin and his team go completely through the car mechanically. The body center collision does a great job making it look like it's just got pulled off a showroom floor. The interior is taken care of. And it just looks so new. And it's something you can take pride in no matter what car it is. There's also some criteria for the volunteer that you want to nominate. One, they should live in Washington, preferably in our home of South Fairly County. And two, they need to have a driver's license so they can receive the car and drive it off. And third, the most critical is they must be insurable. Because there's some volunteers that aren't insurable for past problems. And the other thing, Gil, is sometimes a car isn't the right solution for some people. So we might think it is, but they may think, oh, this is a burden. I don't have anywhere to park it. This long term, I don't... Maybe they prefer taking a bus. So those are really good points you just brought out. So that's the basic criteria. So what if I don't have a car to donate, but I love your vision? How can I further your vision down the road? What can I do? You talk folk and volunteerism, but can I donate money? What can that look like? Well, let me tell you, there's some... We've got a couple of people in the community to collect cash to purchase gas cards, because that'll give that new car owner some gas for a while. We do take donations, cash and door prizes, because the event is actually a fun family event. We have food trucks. Last year, we had a magician, Avery Moore, our police chief, Tacoma police chief, and his community relations guy, Brent Smith, Bourbon Smith are coming with a smoker, and they're going to cut some foods for us. I'm sorry, you said bourbon? Bourbon. Oh, bourbon, I'm sorry. Yeah, B-E-R-B-I-N. Bourbon. Oh my gosh, who named that person? I think you're talking about a smoker. We appeal to everyone. That stays in the trunk of my car until I get home. So there are opportunities. Getting that gas card, we try and supply three months of car insurance, because the new owner doesn't have that in their budget. They don't own a car, why would they pay car insurance? So we try and enable them to get out there and get going. And it's amazing the families that have received these cars. The whole family's delighted and excited by it. We've got balloons. It's a big festive event. So this year, Kevin and I are working together to get the public more aware of it. So we've contacted the Urban League, the Puget Sound Outreach Group, and getting the applications and knowledge of it all over the place. So there's a 12-member board, and my job this year is to make it very difficult and a lot of work for them to go through all those applications, because they'll have so many to go through. You bet. Now, one year I was on that board, and we had a really great application. We're reading through it, and at the bottom, the last statement was, this will be a great replacement car. We want everybody to know we're not replacing a car. It has to be somebody that doesn't own a car, because that person has a car. They can do some work and keep it going. Sure. Unless it's a situation, Gil, where this car is just on its last leg, and it's, you know, it's not so bad if they have a car, if they're insurable and already have a license and all that stuff. But we're not looking to add to their fleet of cars. It would be a situation like, this car is on its last leg, and they are going to have to do something sooner than later. But honestly, that is for the board to decide. That's not a decision I would make, but that would be something that, you know... And Kevin does step back from that decision. Yeah, he... And it's a key thing for the people filling out the applications to understand that we don't interview. We go by what you wrote on the application. So proofread it, read it through again, see if it's got enough contact to give us all the information about the applicant. We can't make it up. We have to go with what's written. And, you know, you get some really good, well-written applications. If somebody doesn't know how to, you know, they're not good writers, find a friend that's a good writer and can clear up that thing. Make it really worthy of reading. Just by happenstance, could you let Step-by-Step know? I know that they work with a lot of individuals that would... At least they, I mean, you know, mothers and things like that, and they're trying to train them. But that's an incredible resource right down here that was at Van Lierop's. I mean, that's where Van Lierop's used to be. Oh, OK. I mean, we're totally talking local stuff here. Yeah, no, I have not reached out to them. Would you send me a contact info? I'll reach out. Bill, could you please do that? Since you've got all that information, yeah, send it to them. We got a thumbs up from Bill. Yeah, because actually Step-by-Step, they do a lot for women. And most of those, I'm not sure I guess I should say, I know that a lot of them are in those situations that they... That would be a good resource or maybe something you could even partner with even down the road to further that vision and public knowledge. Any time you're putting on an event, and even though you've already had them in the area for... I'm sorry, you said how many years? Just so far, we skipped a couple of years during COVID, but this will be our seventh year. So we started 2016. Yeah, so I mean, after seven years, education is always educating, saying, hey, this is coming up. And sometimes, I mean, you're getting ready here before too long. I mean, it was celebrating a decade of giving. I mean, you're not far from that decade of giving. And so, I mean, I realize I'm not trying to make this bigger than what it is, but... It's an exceptional thing for a small business, a successful business, small business to have the heart to want to do this for the community. And I've been in networking for a long time. I wondered about Kevin doing this. He's a good networker. He's out. He has employees sharing and stuff. But you know, B&I, Business Networking International. Yeah, absolutely. One of the key things they teach is givers gain. And this is one of the best gifts you can give. And to make it known, you know, I'm bragging on Kevin's business. He's actually a pretty humble guy. So he hired me to be his ego. But so far, so good. Yeah, I love it. And I just want everybody to know, you know, this is the thing you can do to really increase the goodwill of your business. You know, Kevin's not doing it to get people running in and have his cars repaired. That'd be great. He'd love that. But it creates the goodwill because we'd like to do business with people. Absolutely. Rather than just an entity. And the best referrals go to people. You get to know Bill. You want to refer Bill. You don't want to refer, you know, the disruptors. We don't know that. But we know Bill and we know Candace. So it's important if a business is looking at doing this to first think about the giving and not worry about the getting. That's right. And, you know, that's the whole beauty of what you're doing. First of all, I mean, I love small business because small business has always funded the activities of a community. Yes. I mean, business really is. I mean, there's a heart and a hub. You get to see an aspect of our society that most won't. And, you know, people frustrate or they're just trying to get it. And you think you're just doing a simple job of fixing the brakes or but you're saving people. You're keeping people on the road. You're keeping people safe. And I know, I mean, if somebody, I mean, I just know that there's lots of love in that heart to give. And so small businesses often will extend themselves. And it's a beautiful expression. It really is. And what's really exciting at the day of the event, you go in there and you sit and you watch Kevin's employees. They're all in on it. They're all giving of it. And they feel an ownership of this car giveaway. So it's not just the business doing it and employees begrudgingly having to do extra work and clean up the shop, which remarkably is, shop looks like you can eat off the floor anyways. But it's sparkling. They're having fun. It's a great event. And we'd like to invite you and Bill to come by. We'll put you on opposite sides of the room to enjoy a snack and watch the fun. That would be a blast. That's July 13th. Yep, 11 a.m. 11 a.m. And it's going to be at Center Collision. What's the address? 1111 Center Street. 1111 Center Street. So at 1111, go to 1111 Center Street. In Puyallup. It's in Tacoma. Oh, I'm sorry. You're going to have to cut that. In Tacoma. It's about a mile from the Tacoma Dome. Just give you a general area. Oh, okay. There we go. I remembered seeing it. I just couldn't remember where. You know what I'm saying. Okay. In Tacoma. Tacoma, Washington. So we've had lots of people that have participated in the past reach out. And they always want to donate every year and help out. But right now, I think the main thing, you know, like Gil said, obviously, if somebody wants to donate, there's plenty of opportunity for that. But the main thing right now is just letting people know this is available to somebody and to get them to go to our website and turn in, you know, submit a nomination. Maybe a friend, relative, neighbor. You just can't nominate yourself. So it's got to be, it's kind of like a third party type of thing. So you would have to observe somebody else, maybe in your church, maybe in your school, who knows. But somebody else is like, you know, there's a person that's always helping others, never thinking of themselves. That's the person we're looking for. You bet. That's a community hero. Yes. Yeah, exactly. And I wouldn't mind if they sent us some door prizes because the attendees have fun getting raffle tickets and winning little things. And or, you know, just small donations help out to, because there's a cost to refurbishing the mechanics and to doing the body work and stuff. And we want to do that. But there's opportunities to sponsor the events. So you get in the, you know, advertising, that's most sponsored events, you know. If we had a Disruptors logo, we'd probably throw that up on the wall. Well, we've got a huge display board where we put all the sponsors logos on it. And so people can see who's really sure we're having it at Center Collision. And we're, you know, kind of organizing this, but we didn't do it all. I mean, all these people on the board, they're the ones that made this happen. So. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, it's just wonderful to see businesses getting out and changing the community and making it better, right? It's not a, it's not a, it's a hand up. Not a. Well, that's the idea. You know, just thought about it years ago. And it's like, you know, I don't know anybody doing anything like this in our community. And I don't think that I really need to wait till I get somebody to ask me or get permission. I'm just going to do it. Until somebody says, you know, you can't do something like this. I'm just decided to do it. Well, I'm, we're totally behind it. Right, Bill? Okay, all he can do is shake his head. Apparently he's not speaking. The cat has actually gotten his tongue. We can hear the water rattling around in there. This is my chance as he's not, his tongue must be tied up. No competition right now. That's right. It's been incarcerated because it's been wicked. Thank you, sir. It's just so much fun to work with the community and talk about this thing. It's my first year being the front man and making the public known. And Kevin called on me because he thinks I know a couple people and, you know. Absolutely. Well, I'm going to encourage our businesses to get involved, to donate different things for the raffle or, you know, and I'm going to encourage them to pile in those gifts. I'm also going to encourage churches and nonprofits. You know what? You know individuals. How about down there at our food banks? You see people every week. You see their flight. Somebody reach out and nominate. Be a good Samaritan. Change their world. Matter of fact, you can even be anonymous. They don't care, right? If you're donating or if you have a story to tell or you're nominating somebody. As long as it's the truth. So that's it. And just so you know, we talked about the criteria on the car earlier, but I would say the average car, I mean, if somebody just go buy one, it'd be anywhere from probably eight to fourteen thousand dollars. So, I mean, this is a substantial gift. This isn't a car that nobody wants and, you know, would just as well, you know, should go to a wrecking yard. This is a beautiful, nice car that's going to last a person a long time. So we're just looking for the right person in the community that if we gave it to this right person, how that would help our community become a better place by them being more able to do whatever service work they're doing currently. So that's part of the criteria like Gil was saying. We're looking for somebody that not just needs a car, but we want to see the other side of them. I mean, OK, a lot of people need cars, but this person probably doesn't have a car because they're always spending time helping other people and they haven't financially thought of themselves as much as they have others. So this is a time where we want to identify that person and which would be the person that would never think of themselves and, you know, make it a special day and a special gift for them from the community. You bet. We'd love to interview them. Oh, that'd be cool. I'd love to know about it. That's going to change their world. Well, I can. There's a couple I could put you with right now that have received cars in the past, but as well, you could also interview the person in the future, too. I just think that's so much fun. It is. It actually is a lot of fun. A lot of work, but it's a lot of fun. One last thing we could use help with is last year we had a magician, but he's booked out. If somebody knows a magician, a juggler, balloon kindness. He's actually going to be at a magician's convention. Is that a true story? Yeah. They're all at a convention? He is at a convention for magicians that exact weekend. We could use a juggler or a balloon toss person. Somebody to kind of lightly entertain the crowd. We tried music once, but it's too much. We have had Rhubarb from the Tacoma Rangers for the last two years, the mascot for the Tacoma Rangers. Oh, how fun. Yeah, so kids love it. I mean, it's fun for them as well. You know, one of the hardest parts of this is the board having to read through anywhere from 30 to 50 nominations. They probably have more this year. And there are some stories in there that just break your heart. So they have the difficult task of choosing who would be out of all these people that are awesome. You know, there are a lot of good people in our community, but who would be... How do we narrow this down to one person, right? That's right, because all are so deserving. Yeah, I mean, some of the stories like, oh, my goodness, you know, this person's been through so much and then they've overcame this and, you know, just struggles that, you know, maybe you and I just never even considered, you know. Sure, absolutely. Yeah, some of the stories that come through are just, man, heart-wrenching and just kind of makes you proud that, you know, people have overcome things like that. And like I said, thank goodness I'm not on the board, but I know these guys, you know, I read through some of these prior, but when they have to take that evening, it takes them a few hours to go through all of them. There are some stories that are just really touching, you know. Well, you know, we all have different journeys and how incredible, I mean, in a sense, being a gatekeeper and listening to, let's just say, how life can be more than challenging and how encouraging that these people are still smiling, still going out and changing the world, still hustling and still trying to make it all work. And so, I'll be honest, I hope that this event grows to where you're not just giving one away, but the community donates to the point where you've got 10 to give away. Because wouldn't it be lovely if really at the end of the day, the board didn't have to make a decision because they're basing that decision because they love the community. So, they're boiling it all down with love in their hands, with giving hearts and saying, okay, dang it, we'd only have the one. But what if the community rallied? What if the world was a better place? Because it would be if the community saw the vision and rallied. And that's what I'm asking, is putting out that savor-rattling cry that says, it's great for the one, but let's make the difference. So, the burden of the board wouldn't have to justify it. You know, anything can happen. I'm just super happy that at least we as a community, at least doing something that direction, even if it's only one right now. It's an incredible expression of love. I know that it's significantly changed people's lives over the last several years. And not just the person that gets a car too. It's like people that are just involved and see it and kind of get that vision of like, hey, you know what? I could probably make a difference in our community. You know, maybe I should consider something like this. I'm in the automotive world. There's people in all kinds of different worlds that can do the same type of thing in their circle of business. Yeah. Candice, it's so cool. When the first time I went to watch this car giveaway, I'm seeing Santa Clause, and it's not this elaborated huge business that can afford to throw money at something or just give something away. It's a small business. That's right. Living in our community, looking at the community and going, I can help. I can make a difference. That's right. And finding a way to do that. So I encourage other businesses, look around, see what you can do. And you can make a difference. Absolutely. Absolutely. We can all impact the world. But Kevin, I appreciate and respect the fact that you didn't think about it. You actually did something. Well, it was kind of scary the first time, to be honest with you. I didn't know how it was going to turn out. And I think there was, you know, maybe 35 people. But the last couple of years, it's been 100 plus. Yeah. We've invited the mayor and Avery Moore, the chief of police, and a city councilman invited a senator from the state. But they have to be out. Well, Gildas knows everybody, you know. He does. He comes up with a serious role at Exeter. And I invited a couple of podcasters that we know. Yeah. Bill and Candace. Maybe. Maybe. They're unruly, but fun. You know? So that's about all we can say about it, other than recommending a couple of things for you after the show. Awesome. Yeah. I think the thing is, we just want to encourage everybody to just go to centercollision.com. Go to the website, because that'll give you all the information you need to… centercollision.com. Yep. July 13th, 11 a.m. On the centercollision.com site, just go to About, and you'll see Wheels to Prosper there. And that'll have an application. I think they actually created a new tab for it. Oh, they did? Excellent. Yeah. It was set up that way, Bill, but I think they just revamped it. So I think you can just go to the website, and there's… It's even easier. Yeah. We like that part. I'm thrilled to announce the seventh annual Wheels to Prosper event sponsored by Center Collision. This will be the seventh year that Center Collision has sponsored an event where they give away a car to someone in our community. Now, this event is all about giving back to our community heroes that go above and beyond to help others in need. We're looking for somebody who gives their time and effort to make a positive impact on our community, but currently, unfortunately, cannot afford the car of their own. As a token of appreciation, the lucky winner of this year's car giveaway will receive a refurbished, newer vehicle, three months paid insurance, and a gas card to help them get around without a hassle. It's our way of saying thank you for those who make a difference every day. To participate in this incredible event, all you have to do is register by visiting the website that's centercollision.com and simply filling out the form. The deadline for this registration date is June 30th, and it must be in to their office by 630. For more information, go to Center Collision at the top of the website page. Click on About, and you'll find more information. Now, here's a few words from one of the winners of Wheels to Prosper. Hi, my name is Maliki Ortega, and I just won a car today here at Center Collision. They get together with a bunch of folks here in the community and decide on who is worthy of a new car, someone who's in need and does a lot of work and volunteer work for our community here. They put wheels on there, car insurance, even gas money, and it's an amazing thing. I just would like to say thank you to everyone, big and small, who was part of this. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.