Cars For Kids

Kids Under Cover is formally launching the "Donate Your Car" program in December 2010 - a pertinent time as the issue of homelessness contrasts with family-focused Christmas festivities.
While most people connect with family and enjoy Christmas festivities, the holiday season for the more than 4000 homeless young people in our community holds a very different reality. It's an issue that has affected some of the world's most famous faces - demonstrating that with the right support, such as that provided by Kids Under Cover, lives can be turned around. Drew Carey, David Lettermen and Daniel Craig are just a few of the celebrities who struggled with homeless or 'at risk' behaviour in their early years.
If you have an old bomb sitting in your driveway, or one too many resto projects on your hands, consider this an opportunity to reclaim your parking space and make a huge difference to someone's future! To find out how, visit www.donateyourcar.com.au and see how easy it is to make a significant donation that will literally change lives. If your vehicle is valued at over $5000, your donation will be 100 per cent tax deductible, too. For car dealerships, the Donate Your Car program is a hassle free option for on-selling trade-in vehicles… and one that's tax deductible.
Manheim Fowles and JUST Magazines are the proud Major Partners of the program. CEO of JUST Magazines, Ash Hunter, is excited about being involved with the launch.
"Kids Under Cover is a fantastic organisation and we're incredibly proud to be involved in promoting awareness of the Donate Your Car program.
"We're hoping our loyal readers will get involved and donate cars they may have sitting in their backyards - some of those "projects" that never managed to make it into the workshop," Ash commented.
Kids Under Cover CEO, Jo Swift, said that the Donate Your Car program mirrors similar successful programs in the USA.
"We're hoping for similar success with the Donate Your Car program in Australia so we can continue to build studios in the backyard of family homes for homeless and at risk young people. There are more than 4000 homeless young people in Victoria alone at the moment. We're working hard to make sure this shocking rate doesn't continue to rise."
Kids Under Cover Young Ambassador and benefactor of the Studio and Scholarship Programs, Matt Taylor, is testament to the work of the not-for-profit organisation. Severely dyslexic, Matt did it tough in his early teenage years, getting involved with the wrong crowd in the city and in trouble with the police. Matt's inspirational parents were foster carers for over 40 children which meant space was limited at home. At age 15, he was supplied with a studio and a scholarship by Kids Under Cover. Now 21, he's fulfilling his dream of being a multimedia designer and even has his own clients.
Kids Under Cover Founding Patron and Centenary medallist Ken Morgan inaugurated the not-for-profit in 1989, and to date the organisation has assisted over 2200 at risk young people in Australia.
The Donate Your Car website will feature a running tally of cars donated and funds raised during the three month period, and will also provide details of where you can find the donated vehicles available at auction. The first auction will be held on December 22 - so even if you're not in a position to donate a car, perhaps you might find your next resto dream!

For more information on the car donation process, visit www.donateyourcar.com.au or call 1800 801 633. If you're unable to donate a car for young people in need, you can also donate funds directly to Kids Under Cover at www.kuc.com.au

A SNAPSHOT OF HOMELESSNESS IN AUSTRALIA

Homeless Young People in Australia (0-18 years)

Victoria 3,896
Queensland4,469
NSW4,987
WA4,280
SA2,129
Tasmania770
NT1,102
ACT307
TOTAL21,940

- About one in every two young people who seek accommodation on a night are turned away.

National Youth Commission, (2008), Australia's Homeless Youth: a report of the National Youth Commission Inquiry into Youth Homelessness. Independent community inquiry funded by The Caledonia Foundation.

- 105,000 people are homeless every night in Australia, with 16,000 reduced to sleeping on the streets;
- Of these 105,000, almost half are under the age of 25 years
- Young people aged 12 to 18 are the largest group of people experiencing homelessness and the highest users of specialist homelessness services;

Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, (2008), White Paper: The Road Home - A National Approach to Reducing Homelessness

- For a single person aged under 21 receiving Newstart Allowance, there were no one-bedroom rental properties in any capital city where paying the monthly rent would not require the person to live below the poverty line.

National Youth Commission, (2008), Australia's Homeless Youth: a report of the National
Youth Commission Inquiry into Youth Homelessness. Independent community inquiry funded by The Caledonia Foundation.

- There is a link between substance use and homelessness. 43% of the 4,252 homeless participants had problems with substance use. Of these, 66% had developed their problem after they became homeless.

Chamberlain, Chris and Johnson, Guy and Theobald, Jacqui, (2007), Homelessness in
Melbourne: Confronting the challenge, (p. 6)

- Pinkney and Ewing (1998) estimated that the longterm economic cost to the community of the estimated 25,000 students who experience homelessness in a year would be 'in excess of half a billion dollars per year.'

- The largest part of this estimated amount is the cost of educational disadvantage, supplemented by the costs to the community of ill-health and involvement in the criminal justice system.

National Youth Commission, (2008), Victoria, Australia's Homeless Youth: a report of the
National Youth Commission Inquiry into Youth Homelessness p14) Independent community
inquiry funded by The Caledonia Foundation.

- On average, 2 out of 3 young people who become homeless while at school will leave school in the same year. Further, only 41% of young people who are homeless are at school or TAFE.

Australian Federation of Homelessness Organisations, AFHO facts, (2005), Homelessness and Young People.