The Cross Country Caravan for Kids is intended as a symbolic event complementing efforts by members of the 46 Austin-Healey Club of America regional clubs throughout 2008 to raise funds that help their local Make-A-Wish® chapters grant wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.

The AHCA leadership team believes it is in the best interest of members’ long-term support of the marque to highlight members’ civic spirit and generosity by focusing on a single major philanthropic endeavor that enhances a positive, socially responsible AHCA reputation among current and potential members. Reinforcing that reputation also complements and is closely aligned with AHCA’s objective of generating Healey enthusiasm among youngsters through the Future Fifty initiative.

Like AHCA regional clubs, Make-A-Wish® chapters set their own priorities for the benefit of volunteers and children. AHCA’s leadership team decided that philanthropic efforts would be most successful by serving local needs, thereby encouraging regional clubs to make important contributions to a local worthy cause aiding children. Make-A-Wish® chapters also are well-known for devoting more than 80 percent of all funds raised to fulfilling wishes instead of administrative costs and publicizing the organization.

Yes. All donations (when there is no exchange of goods or services) to the Make-A-Wish Foundation are tax deductible. Any check contributions received should be made out to the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of America and given to your local Make-A-Wish chapter for processing. All cash and check contributions should receive a receipt and each AHCA regional club will need to designate one person to control a locally secured receipt book, collect funds and issue receipts. Keeping a running total of receipts will enable your club to more easily report its results to the Caravan Web site and your local Make-A-Wish® office.

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. With the help of generous donors and more than 25,000 volunteers, The Foundation grants a wish every 40 minutes and has granted more than 161,000 wishes in the United States since inception.

Each club should make that decision based on what works best within its region. For example, your club already may host a regional event for British sports car marques that can become your vehicle for a charitable fundraiser.
AHCA leadership is providing this site as a clearinghouse for fundraising ideas what work in other regions, but cannot dictate participation by any regional club.
The leadership team is urging regional clubs to become involved because doing so supports member-directed AHCA goals of generating enthusiasm for the marque among current and future potential Austin-Healey owners, their families, friends and the general public.

Go to the AHCA Web site, www.healeyclub.org, and click on Caravan to find what other clubs and the national organization are doing. Once a club decides on a fundraiser and shares the date and plans on this site, we’ll post them so other clubs may get ideas for activities they can undertake. Regular updates will appear that outline what other clubs are doing and how they are organizing events. You also may call Greg Lauser, AHCA vice president for public relations, at 715.262.9813 for more information.

No. Many clubs are planning events after Conclave. It is totally within the discretion of regional clubs to decide when, where and how to conduct events supporting local Make-A-Wish chapters, depending on what they believe will work best to achieve their fundraising goals.
The leadership team intends to present a mock check to the Make-A-Wish Foundation at Conclave in San Diego. The check will represent funds raised up to that date by regional clubs for their local Make-A-Wish® chapters. The presentation at Conclave is intended to generate added enthusiasm among attendees for scheduling events back home if they haven’t done so already.
*** Funds raised by AHCA regional clubs will be used by Make-A-Wish chapters in the respective regions where they were donated.

The easiest way is to go the foundation national Web site at www.wish.org and click on “Contact Us.” On that page a “Find Local Chapters” box will appear that asks you to type in the appropriate zip code of the club to which you belong. It is recommended that the zip code used by each AHCA club correspond to the city, town or village in which the club maintains a mailing address. The zip code is important because it will ensure that you are benefiting and linked with the correct Make-A-Wish® chapter.
The list includes names, phone numbers and addresses for Make-A-Wish officers and marketing directors who may be consulted to help develop and publicize regional AHCA club fundraisers. Make-A-Wish officials and volunteers are experienced in generating publicity for that group’s efforts and may be able to assist you with any potential media opportunities.

To utilize the Make-A-Wish® name or logo in any fundraising effort or communications requires working with the appropriate local foundation chapter. Any use of the Make-A-Wish® name without local chapter approval will violate the agreement that AHCA’s national office has signed with the charity’s national organization.
*** AHCA regional clubs will be required to sign a Fundraising/ Licensing agreement with their local Make-A-Wish® chapters, which gives permission for the AHCA club to use the Make-A-Wish name and marks and/or to host an event or activity to benefit the local Make-A-Wish chapter.

The leadership team already has designated $1,000 of the 2008 public relations and promotion budget as a donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation®. Several of AHCA’s national officers are making the symbolic Cross Country Caravan for Kids run from either the East Coast or Upper Midwest to rendezvous with regional club members along those routes. Those gatherings will provide an opportunity for local clubs to report their fundraising results thus far, or future 2008 plans to raise funds. Clubs that report fundraising figures will have them incorporated into the total included in the mock-up check presented to a Make-A-Wish® representative during Conclave in San Diego. In reality, funds raised by a regional club will benefit the charity chapter closest to their region.
In addition, AHCA national is providing this Web link for sharing fundraiser ideas and information needed by regional clubs to find their local charity contacts.

You can find it by clicking on the Map icon on the Caravan home page accessed through the Austin-Healey Club of America Web page. It is an interactive map containing the overall route, indicating planned stops for club rendezvous and overnight stops, as well as more detailed maps of each segment’s routing.
As regional clubs make plans to meet those driving cross country for luncheon or overnight dinner or car show stops, they will be asked to provide more specific details on exactly how to get to the local restaurants, motels or car show sites in that area. The map is interactive, so those details can be logged in.
See the schedule Caravan Calendar section of these pages for the schedule.

The routes have been planned to give as many regional clubs as possible an opportunity to rendezvous with those on the Cross Country Caravan for Kids. We’d like to have as many AHCA members as possible join us for the full trip, but realize that isn’t realistic. The routes are planned so regional club members can make shorter tours together to one of several key resting or nightly stopover points.
For example, it is hoped that members of the Ontario and Quebec clubs will join in the kick-off celebration June 14 in Bennington, Vt. The overnight stop in Hagerstown, Md., with the AHCA’s Capital Area club provides an opportunity for participation by the Tidewater club. Likewise, the route is designed to rally members of the Southeastern U.S. clubs – from Alabama, Atlanta and Florida – at an event in Charlotte, N.C. Tennessee clubs may be able to meet the caravan in London, Ky.; possible rallying of Ohio club members with the Bluegrass Club near Louisville, Ky.; Indiana and southern Illinois members at the Vincennes, Ind., location or near St. Louis, Mo., with the Gateway club.
The Midwest Club already plans to rendezvous with the Upper Midwest Caravan at Savanna, Ill. AHCA is urging regional club members s to explore the possibility of meeting cross country caravan participants as they travel through your respective parts of the country. This site will carry updates once plans for each rendezvous are firmed up.
If a club cannot or does not wish to meet the caravan, it also can choose simply to pledge funds deemed appropriate by the club to the fundraiser.