Second Chance Cars

We provide affordable cars to Massachusetts low-income veterans, healthcare workers, and returning citizens .

Uncategorized

Media Coverage this Month!

by

April 2020: Great media coverage this month! Our terrific partnership with Veterans Northeast Outreach Center and the Minuteman Vocational School were featured on Channel 4 News and starred Aris, a young veteran and single parent. The National Volunteers of America (VoA) newsletter also featured a great story about Mike, a veteran who was referred to us by the VOA’s Massachusetts chapter. Mike got a car and now has a great and well-paying full-time job. In April we also received a record 8 applications from five of our seven partner social service organizations, approved 7 candidates, and awarded cars to 6. 

Photos of some April recipients:

Grand Opening!

by

Car donors, recipients, social service partners and close to 100 other people attended SCCs’ grand opening on 12.17.2019.  Originally scheduled to be held at SCCs’ office, the venue had to be moved to the larger Harvey Wheeler community center in Concord due to overflow attendance, with the smaller “after-party” taking place at the office.

Amazing Update from Car Recipient

by

A professor from UMASS Lowell donated a lovely 2008 Honda Fit and the good folks at Greater Lawrence Tech refurbished it with new tires, battery, and more. While this was happening, Inner City Weightlifting introduced Chino to us.  His SCC “car calculator” showed that he could increase his net earnings by close to $3000 annually after car expenses if awarded a car, not to mention be able to spend more time with his daughter. This coalition of generosity and competence — what we call our “Community of Goodness” — put Chino into a car he could not afford and that is poised to change his and his daughter’s life. (January 2020 update: Thanks to the car, Chino can now work three jobs, from 6 AM to 10 PM, six days a week.)

SCC Office Rennovation

by

Second Chance office Space SCC is of course a nonprofit but did you know we are also a Massachuesetts-licensed used car dealer? This means that need to meet numerous state requirements including for our office space.  Requirements include having a dedicated entrance just for our business, be located in an area zoned for used car dealing, and have dedicated parking spaces. We looked for months for a space that met all the requirements and were about to sign a lease on a small, dark space that required a lot of investment when, incredibly, we found this space a 40 second walk from our executive director’s house, and converted it into possibly the coolest used car dealer office in North America (low-bar, we know….)

Renovation: step 1
Renovation: Step 1
Renovation: step 3
Renovation: Step 3
Renovation: step 2
Renovation: Step 2

Veteran Doug gets a car

by

We awarded a mint, low mileage 2008 Toyota Corolla to Doug (second from right), a veteran working with Volunteers of America (MA). Doug is expected to at least double his income as a result of now having a car! In photo from left to right: Angela and Eric (VoA staff), Britty and car donor Corey, Dan (SCC), Doug (veteran) and Sam (SCC intern).

Veteran Ken gets a car

by

It takes a village (or a “community of goodness” as we like to say) to award a great car to a great person. This community came together at Veterans Inc.’s annual Stand Down event to award a gorgeous and refurbished 2006 Subaru Legacy to Ken, a Vietnam veteran (far left, below). Featured from left to right are Tim Corey (Veterans Inc.), Dan Holin (SCC), Michelle Roche and John Primpas (Minuteman Vocational School), Sue Katz (American Consumer Credit Counseling), and John Rizzi (SCC). Missing: Dave and Sue, the Subaru’s donors!