St. Louis CARSTAR Group Helps Grant Wish
(Overland, MO) – All teenagers dream of their first car, but that experience was elevated even more for a young man in South County who was recently granted a special wish through the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Missouri with help from the Metro St. Louis CARSTAR® collision repair group. Matt, who is currently in remission from Hodgkin’s disease, wished that his 1998 Chevy S-10 pick-up truck could be “tricked out” with a new custom paint job and a variety of upgrades that would make heads turn! That wish came true on August 19th when he was presented with his repaired and upgraded truck at CARSTAR Collision Auto Repair, located at 9425 Midland in Overland, Missouri, one of the 11 CARSTAR locations in the St. Louis area.
Even though Matt helped draw the flames as part of the custom paint design, he was still impressed at seeing the finished product for the first time. “It’s awesome!” he said. “The kids at school are going to look at it and say, ‘Wow! Is that your truck?’” Matt’s entire family was on hand for the presentation, along with several of Matt’s friends. Matt’s Dad Damon echoed the sentiments of thankful parents, “Just seeing him get his truck fixed up the way he likes it, it was a wonderful experience!”
The Metro St. Louis CARSTAR® collision repair group committed to making Matt’s wish come true earlier in the year by agreeing to donate all the labor necessary to repair his truck, provide the special one-of-a-kind paint job and install a variety of special parts and accessories.
The project is a demonstration of the continued commitment by the Metro St. Louis CARSTAR® group to support the Make-A-Wish® Foundation. With the granting of this wish, CARSTAR’s total fundraising and donations have exceeded $30,000 locally over the last 15 months. This ongoing support was recognized earlier this year when the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Missouri presented the St. Louis CARSTAR group with a special “Star” award. “The St. Louis CARSTAR group has been a tremendous community partner,” said Laura Boone, Chapter Development Supervisor. “Their involvement in granting this wish has helped Matt’s dream come true, but the support they’ve demonstrated overall has gone much further than we could have hoped!”
In addition to local efforts, St. Louis area CARSTAR locations are making a donation to the national Make-A-Wish Foundation® for every car they repair and are providing Make-A-Wish® magnetic stars to customers to build awareness and support for the charity. CARSTAR groups across the country are doing the same as part of an alliance between the national CARSTAR® collision repair group and the Make-A-Wish Foundation®.
This alliance is highlighted by the CARSTAR Super’Stang Muscle Tour, featuring the CARSTAR Super’Stang. The CARSTAR Super’Stang is a recreation of a unique 1967 Mustang created by the Ford Motor Company, but never marketed to the public. Jeff Yergovich, owner of R & A Motorsports, the country’s leading restorer of Shelby Mustangs, oversaw and supported the renovation of the vehicle, which was conducted at CARSTAR A & B of Riverside, Missouri.
The Tour began on Saturday, June 9th, 2007 and will make appearances at auto shows, community events and CARSTAR Collision Repair shops throughout the country. The tour will end with the sale of the CARSTAR Super’Stang at an auction in Scottsdale, Arizona in January of 2009, with net proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation®. Additional information about the tour is available at www.carstarsuperstang.com.
About the Make-A-Wish Foundation®
The Make-A-Wish Foundation® grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. In 1980, seven year old Chris Greicius, who was battling leukemia, had a wish to be a police officer. A group of compassionate volunteers and police officers came together to provide Chris with the experience of a lifetime culminating with Chris being sworn in as the first-ever honorary patrolman in Arizona history. Chris’s dream served as the inspiration for what is now the largest wish-granting organization in the world, the Make-A-Wish Foundation®, with 69 chapters in the United States and its territories. With the help of generous donors and nearly 25,000 volunteers, the Make-A-Wish Foundation® grants more than 12,600 wishes a year (one every 41 seconds!) and has granted more than 167,000 wishes in the U.S. since its inception. More information about the Make-a-Wish Foundation® of Missouri is available at www.mo.wish.org.
About CARSTAR
The St. Louis CARSTAR group currently consists of 11 independently owned and operated CARSTAR franchise locations. The local CARSTAR locations are part of the nation’s largest collision repair franchise. As a CARSTAR facility, the area CARSTAR locations have access to training and systems unavailable to other collision repair facilities which provides a competitive advantage in areas such as purchasing, marketing and insurance relations. Founded in 1989, CARSTAR is comprised of conversion franchises. CARSTAR repair centers must maintain strict requirements concerning quality of work, training and customer satisfaction. Headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, CARSTAR is a privately held company with over 280 locations in the United States and District of Columbia and over 125 Canadian locations.
