SAN DIEGO—
The parking lot used by Father Joe Carroll's car donation program used to be filled with nearly 1,000 aging vehicles. Now it is almost empty."I feel good for the dealerships making money, but I feel miserable that it will affect my help with the poor," Father Joe said.
While many dealerships are thriving thanks to the Cash for Clunkers program, several local charities are taking a hit, because they rely on donated old cars to raise money for their services.
"About 20 to 25 percent of our funding actually comes from our sales of donated cars," Father Joe said.
Car donations also make up between 5 to 8 percent of the funding for Jewish Family Services, spokeswoman Jill Spitzer said. If clunkers stop rolling in, the group will have to slash programs, she said.
"The concerns are that people who might have ordinarily have donated the car will not," Spitzer said. "If people don't donate to us, that means it puts us in a position to not serve as many people that need our help."
Father Joe has the same worry. His charity helps more than 3,200 people a day in downtown San Diego. He can offer donors a tax write-off, but many people are opting for cash for their clunkers instead.
"There's no way to make up for it, because the state's cutting back, the county's cutting back and the city's cutting back," he said.
Cash for Clunkers launched right before his peak donation season, Father Joe said. He wishes Congress and the White House had considered charities when devising the program.
"To me, the idea would have been donate your car to a charity, get a $4,000 write-off, then go spend it," Father Joe said.
