Your nomination has been received.
The deadline has not yet been set for submissions, but updates will be posted in my weekly newsletter, “Work Is Not For Sissies”.
If you have questions, you can email us at GlennShepardLeadership (at) gmail.com.
Your Biggest Fan!
Glenn Shepard in Nashville, Tennessee
Why Do I Give Away Cars?
Call It “Generosity Between Strangers”
It began with the 2000 movie Pay It Forward.
In the opening scene, a reporter played by Jay Mohr had just lost his car when a criminal evading the police smashed into it.
Suddenly a stranger shows up and gives him the keys to his Jaguar. Jay asks why he’d just give him a car, and the mysterious man says “Call it generosity between strangers”.
(Click here and fast forward to 3:00 to see that scene: www.facebook.com/watch/?v=368654491004679).
When I saw that, I said to myself “I want to be that guy”.
So, I became that guy, and have given away seven cars (eight if you count the Corvette) since then
About This Car
The car I’m currently giving away is a 2001 Jaguar XJ8 Vanden Plas I bought in 2008. It’s never been a daily driver; I’ve just been in love with classic Jaguar sedans since they were featured in two TV shows in the eighties, “The Equalizer” and “L.A. Law”.
The current value is only about $4,000. But for someone who’s in need of a car and doesn’t want to go into debt to buy one, this can be life changing. Everything runs fine and it rides more smoothly than any other vehicle I’ve ever owned. It even has brand new tires.
If you like to help people and want to have a bigger impact on someone else’s life than you ever imagined, this is your chance to do it.
I’ve never done drugs.
But having seen the tears of joy and looks on the faces of people I’ve given cars to over the past 20+ years, I can’t imagine there’s any drug induced high that can match the euphoria that comes from doing this.
Timeline for Submitting Nominations
The deadline for submissions has not yet been set because we want to allow enough time to send out announcements and publicize this so that everyone has a fair chance of winning. Once the cutoff is set, it will be posted here
Arrangements for Picking Up the Car
If your nominee is selected, you will be notified by email and phone and will have 48 hours to respond.
After confirming that the person you are nominating has won and wants to car, they will have 48 hours to provide proof that they have added the car to their insurance policy.
They’ll have two weeks to pick the car up from a designated location in Nashville, Tennessee, most likely the local police department in for safety and security.
If any of these deadlines are missed, we’ll move on to someone else.
Previous Cars Glenn’s Given Away
A Single Mom Trying to Help Others
Consuela Baker was a single mom raising a six-year old son by herself. While delivering food to people in her care group at Cornerstone Church in Madison, TN, her car became so unreliable that she had to ask someone to meet her halfway to get the meals delivered. When Glenn donated his Jaguar XJ-6 to Cornerstone’s Pastor Maury Davis and asked him to find someone deserving, he knew Consuela was the one. In this video, you’ll see the assistant pastor actually driving the car into church during services.
Click HERE to see the live video.
Four Wheels for the Fur Babies
Glenn gave his Chevrolet G1500 to Corinth-Alcorn Animal Shelter in Corinth, MS.
In an odd twist of fate, he saw the story of a nonprofit in Kentucky that lost an identical vehicle and was desperately trying to raise funds for a replacement. He called and left a message that he’d like to replace the vehicle, but no one returned the call.
Next he called a chamber of commerce in Northeast Texas to inform them one of their members had won, and to coordinate the giveaway.
Again, no one returned the call.
Finally, he chose the Corinth-Alcorn Animal Shelter which promptly returned the call and was very excited to receive a free vehicle. Board member Rebecca Burcham picked it up in Nashville and delivered it to them in Mississippi.
In the first photo, Glenn is presenting the keys to Rebecca in Nashville. In the second photo, the first group of fur babies have just been loaded in Mississippi and are about to be transported to a sister shelter in Pennsylvania, where they have forever homes waiting for them.
The School Crossing Guard Who Had to Uber to Work
Melanie Clemons of Chattanooga, TN, was the recipient of Glenn’s BMW X-5. The following is an excerpt from the winning nomination, submitted by Cheryl Millsaps at the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce:
“Mrs. Mel is the school crossing guard for Battle Elementary, an inner-city zoned magnet school that draws children from the surrounding inner-city neighborhoods and the children of suburban parents who work in downtown Chattanooga. The school sits at one of the busiest intersections on the Southside. Since many of the children live outside the school zone, parents have to provide their own transportation, adding to the traffic congestion at this intersection with four lanes of traffic on both streets.
Mrs. Mel cheerfully wades into zipping rush hour traffic to assist parents and grandparents walking kindergartners to 5th graders across this dangerous intersection. I’m horrified to say that as she has had canned drinks and hot coffee thrown at her and has even been clipped by cars deliberately harassing her.
Yet she’s there every morning and afternoon, merrily calling out good morning to everyone, recognizing both children and parents by name, giving hugs of encouragement, and sometimes even belting out hymns of gratefulness in a stage-worthy voice. I recently learned that her only vehicle has broken down and she is having to ride the bus or Uber from home, adding at least an hour each way to her commute.
Yet she’s there every day, spreading her particular brand of sunshine to these kids, modeling joy, hard work, and gratefulness for every day. She is such a wonderful example to the parents and children of Battle Elementary.”
This Newlywed Who Walked His Wife to Her Job at Walmart Every Morning
Glenn gave this Land Rover to newlyweds Cory and Shaina Keibler in North Myrtle Beach, SC.
Cory’s mom Vicki Keibler worked for the North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce and submitted his name. He’s unable to drive because of health problems resulting from oxygen deprivation at birth, but Shaina is. He works at Goodwill and she works at Walmart.
Because they had no vehicle, Cory would get up at 5:00 am every morning to walk Shaina to work. Vicki set up the reveal like on the TV show “Extreme Makeover Home Edition”, and had it covered live by the local ABC television affiliate. The CEO of Goodwill and Cory’s supervisor were also there for the presentation.
A Single Mom Taking Care of Three Generations of Her Family
Glenn gave this GMC minivan to Nancy Westbury, who he found through the staff of Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville. She had recently moved to Nashville from Florida to take care of her aging parents. Because her father was wheelchair bound due to amputations from diabetes, she was in need of a larger vehicle.
She was a single mom who already had a daughter to take care of.
But to add to the fray, her daughter was pregnant, putting her in a position no one ever dreams of – taking care of three different generations of her family, all by herself. She was a perfect recipient of this van.
Customer Gives Mechanic His Cadillac
Glenn bought this Escalade, an exact replica of Tony Soprano’s in The Sopranos, after seeing that the actual vehicle from the TV show sold for $119,000 at auction, which was more than it sold for when new.
This was only intended to be a weekend driver to haul golf clubs and shotguns, but he soon fell in love with it – which is why he was broken hearted when the brakes went out. He took it to the mechanic who’d taken such good care of Glenn’s small collection of vehicles over the years and had always been honest and fair in his prices.
But this time, the mechanic urged Glenn to trade it in for a newer one because the labor to replace the entire brake system would have been more than it was worth.
Instead, Glenn gave it to the garage owner, who gave it to one of his employees who’d been walking to work (ironically, to fix other people’s cars) because he didn’t have a car of his own. The garage owner worked with his employee over two weekends and helped him fix the brakes, and he no longer had to walk to work. (Glenn then bought a black Chevy Tahoe which he nicknamed The Batmobile.)
The Chevrolet That Floated Away in a 500-Year Flood
Glenn tried to give this Chevy Express van to a woman in Oklahoma.
She was informed of her good fortune in April 2010.
Unfortunately, she didn’t get the vehicle added to her insurance policy (which was a requirement before it could be picked up) until May 5th. But on May 1st of that year, a 500-year flood devastated Nashville.
Glenn’s company was completely destroyed. He lost everything, and the van literally floated away.
The Corvette Glenn’s Lawyer “Stole”
This one created what Dr. Laura calls a “Moral Dilemma”. When Glenn wanted to give away this Corvette, his attorney was concerned about liability because the car was so powerful. And to be fair, no one really “needs” a Corvette.
So to keep his promise to pay it forward each time he buys another car, he traded it in on a newer vehicle and donated the value of the Corvette directly to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.