Collision Industry Raises Money for Children

More than $1,700 was donated to the Flying Pig Room of the new Family Resource Center at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee.

The “Flying Pig” library is designed to be an escape for children; a library for children to read about their own disorders or illnesses. It is a glassed-in area that will have a few adult staffers, but with the intent to be just for children, so they can feel some measure of control over their own illness by learning on their own.

“This donation, the result of a fundraising effort by the National Auto Body Council (NABC) will help us stock the room with needed materials,” said Jonel Nicholson, development director at VCH.

“It isn’t just the National Auto Body Council involved with this,” said Chuck Sulkala, the Council’s executive director. “The Collision Industry Conference and the Society of Collision Repair Specialists are also having meetings at the Opryland Hotel, and they have been involved as well. The people who made this donation possible represent every segment of the Collision Industry, repairers, auto manufacturers, paint manufacturers, and insurers.”

“On our own, as individuals and businesses, we attempt to have a positive impact in our own communities. But our goal is to have a positive impact, as an industry, on the communities we visit throughout the course of a year. In addition to building a house for Habitat for Humanity, the industry, through NABC also donated over $500,000 last year to Camp Mak-A-Dream in Montana, a cost free, medically supervised camping experience for children and young adults undergoing active treatment for cancer.

As an Industry, we are made up of good people who do good things. We annually award Pride Awards to people from our Industry who selflessly give of themselves in order to improve the world in which we all live. I think you saw a little of that today.”