| The title of this article might be just a tad | | | | raise go to all sorts of lung health related |
| misleading. On the one hand, it is a good idea for | | | | programs. |
| most of us to stop driving cars and either walk, | | | | While the American Lung Association car donation |
| take public transportation or ride bicycles to | | | | you make will not make all of the difference, it will |
| wherever we happen to be going. However, for | | | | raise enough money to fund a few programs that |
| many people, that idea is either not feasible, or | | | | may help prevent our youth from becoming |
| simply does not register on an emotional level. So, | | | | addicted to cigarettes later in life. And it may be |
| even if we can not stop polluting the air by no | | | | enough to get a few "stop smoking" aids into the |
| longer driving cars all over the place, we can do a | | | | hands of a few adults who know they should not |
| lot to help the lungs of a lot of people, by | | | | smoke, but who just find it really hard to kick the |
| participating in the American Lung Association car | | | | habit. And that can have some very far reaching |
| donation program. | | | | implications. |
| In an American Lung Association car donation, all | | | | Consider that it can cost hundreds of thousands |
| you basically have to do is call up your local office, | | | | of dollars down the line to treat someone who |
| and inform them that you have an old car you | | | | has lung cancer. And if they do not have |
| would like to be rid of and donate to the cause of | | | | insurance (as many millions of Americans do not), |
| preventing lung cancer. At the time they will | | | | those costs will fall squarely on the shoulders of |
| schedule with you, they will come and pick up the | | | | tax payers like you. So if you donate a car that |
| car, so that they can take it back to their | | | | you could probably only sell for $1,000 or so, and |
| storage facility temporarily. Once it is there, they | | | | its sale ends up raising enough money to keep |
| will contract with a mechanic to inspect it, and | | | | only a handful of people from smoking, you may |
| potentially fix the most glaring problems. The | | | | be saving society (and yourself) millions of dollars... |
| intention is to sell the car you donate at an | | | | by stopping a problem before it even exists. |
| auction, and to have the money it and other cars | | | | |