Wheels of giving Bob Wilson loads a transport with cars headed for Rawhide Boys Ranch (Ray Barrington Photo). Local dealers donate time to process donated cars By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle Last year, Brennan Buick took in 118 used cars it didn't sell. Van Boxtel Ford estimates it's taken in about 125 in the past year. Karcz Ford had 15. And the same is true at other dealers in town. But the cars have nothing to do with the economy and everything to do with helping. Several local auto dealers serve as donor collection points for the Rawhide Boys Ranch of New London. The ranch uses donated cars for training and fund-raising. "We're thankful for all the people from the Green Bay area who have given cars over the years. We're amazed at the number of cars we get in good condition," said Rawhide spokesman Tim Costello. The dealers - about 300 statewide - are volunteers in the program and get no pay for their services. "They volunteer their time, staff and facilities to take in the cars," Costello said. "It's easier for Green Bay residents to hand over the cars there rather than drive them to us." "What we do is handle the paperwork," said Curt Clancy, used-car manager at Brennan Buick. "When people come in with the cars, we take the plates off and do other services, but it's only a 15-minute ordeal." The cars are picked up by Rawhide and taken to the boys ranch in New London. There, ranch residents start working to repair the cars. It's a program that has been going for almost 20 years. The ranch, a place for at-risk boys, was founded in 1965 by Gillespie, his wife, Jan, and then-Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr and his wife, Cherry. Boys can be referred to the facility by the state or counties or by the courts. They receive classroom and vocational training and a family, Christian atmosphere at the ranch. Gillespie saw a similar program while on vacation and decided to bring the program home. Since then, it's grown. "The first year, we had 50 vehicles; since then, we've taken in thousands of cars every year," Costello said. Rawhide can't take every car offered and has set standards. The vehicle has to be running and provide a benefit to the boys, financially or through work. Boys work on the vehicle as needed, whether in detailing or repairs, gettting it ready for resale. The ranch then auctions off the cars to licensed dealers. "We don't have a hard and fast line about what kind of car will provide benefits," Costello said. He estimated the ranch gets about 40 percent of its funding from car sales. There's a benefit for the donors as well, above helping the ranch. As a donation, there are tax advantages to giving the car or truck, and at times the market value of the vehicle is higher than it might draw as a trade-in. "There's usually a rush at the end of the year," said Jack Bellisle, PDI manager and ACC installer at Van Boxtel Ford, who handles the program for that dealer. "Last month and December, people try to get the cars in for tax purposes." The cars vary, Clancy said. "Normally, they're older cars, but we've had a 735 BMW come in, some convertibles, also trailers, pop-up campers, boats - just about anything on wheels," he said. Local dealers listed by Rawhide as active donor centers include Broadway Chevrolet-Olds, House of Ryan, Brennan Buick, Van Boxtel Ford-Jeep, Vans Honda-Mitsubishi and Karcz Ford. For information on donations, contact those dealers or visit www.rawhide.org.