Car fans with soft spot for kids

Who would have imagined that the love for performance cars and tuning would translate into a commitment to raise awareness about the underprivileged? This is how the passion for boost and revs translated into philanthropy when a group of car fans formed Miles for Smiles.

The concept is; a registration fee is set, T-shirts and car stickers made and a route planned to the children’s home to which the donations will be made. On D-day, a meeting point is agreed on from which they drive to their destination. The money raised from registration fees and individual contributions is used to buy the items to donate to children’s homes.

“Our aim is to help create awareness of the plight of the underprivileged members of our community,” said Eric Amadi, from Dalas Auto Garage, who together with Avan Singh, from Avtech Auto Garage, are the brains behind Miles for Smiles.

Using their connections with various car clubs such as Subaru family, Underground Legends UG, and Mercedes Benz Club UG they mobilised them to channel their common interest for a common good. It took about one-and-a-half-months of planning and getting in sponsors for the first Miles for Smiles charity run.

On the ground
On June 9 last year, the group visited Nsambya Babies Home, a Roman Catholic-founded home which caters for abandoned children under six years of age. About 20 cars were in the drive, and the donations included flour, rice, sugar, clothes, bottled juice, cups, tissue paper and diapers.

“We are very grateful for the good gesture,” said Sr Hellen, the matron, while receiving the car fans at the babies’ home. “This donation will be of much help to the children.”

Six months later, they held Paul Walker/Calvin Taylor Memorial Run. A tribute to Paul Walker from the Fast and Furious films, for whom car-related events are organised by fans around the world—and for Calvin Taylor, who died in a car crash around the time of Walker’s death.

The activities benefitted Kyasira Home of Hope in Garuga off Kampala-Entebbe road, which was the next destination for 40 cars that were in the run. Their efforts had yielded Shs1.82m in cash and foodstuffs, toiletries plus books and pencils.

Sister Mary Peter, the home administrator, pointed out the challenge of making their farm sustainable to both feed the children and generate income.

First, there is a shortage of people to work the farm. “We have four workers, two of whom are permanent,” says Sr Peter. “During the busy seasons, when we are clearing the fields and planting, we hire prisoners to do the work.” Also, the land is not fenced and during harvest time intruders steal the crops.

After the visit was highlighted in the media, interested parties responded with willingness to help the home overcome these challenges.

Third round
This coincided with World Autism Day on April 2. The destination was Elizabeth House Mukono, which caters for children with disabilities. Sixty-three cars turned up. The haul included foodstuffs, antiseptic soap, sanitary pads and Shs345,000. There was also a two years’ supply of medicine plus a new sign post for the home.

More than donating things, this run was to highlight an issue. As the charity runs start to have traction, getting corporate entities interested and looping in more car aficionados, it was time to turn that attention to a cause. Indeed, a few months down the road, a high-profile event donated the proceeds raised to the home.

Fittingly, on Heroes Day, they focused on children with cancer. It was the first anniversary of Miles for Smiles. The donations included the usual foodstuffs soap, plus tissue paper, milk and bread. However, the visit revealed that there is more they can do about the many outpatients who wait outside the wards at Cancer Institute Mulago. So, they decided to raise extra funds for a 50-person tent and 50 mattresses.

Currently
As they gear up for their fifth charity run on September 3 in aid of Mother Teresa Home in Namugongo, and more miles covered, the question is whether there was an impact at the previous stops. Ultimately, what matters is something was done.

Note that
In spite of the steps taken so far, the two behind the Miles for Smiles initiative believe they can achieve more. Avan Singh notes, “Challenges are people not seeing this as something serious about what we want to accomplish.” Eric Amadi concurs,”If we could get more support, we could take this further with community outreach programmes and self-sustaining projects for some of the homes.”