Car Donation Stories

Has your car been anywhere special? Has anything unusual happened to it? We want to hear the story behind your car! Be sure to include the year, make and model of your vehicle, a photo, when you donated it to the National Kidney Foundation, and, of course, YOUR STORY!

Octogenarian Gives Up Driving and NKF Gets "Daddy's Caddy"

Parting with his beloved 1994 burgundy-colored Cadillac was not an easy task for 88-year-old World War II veteran, Raymond Schmidt. The car was as dear to him as an old friend and giving it up took away his decades-old title of “driver.” But fathers will do anything for their daughters and Schmidt swallowed his pride when all four of his girls told him the time had come to relinquish his driver’s license.

Despite his sadness at losing both his independence and his car, Schmidt felt good knowing that the donation of the car that his daughters affectionately dubbed “Daddy’s Caddy,” would help a cause very close to his heart. Or make that his kidney.

Schmidt chose to donate to Kidney Cars to honor his youngest daughter, Janet Banks, who owes her life to the kidney donation she received in 1997. Banks and her three sisters are all proud of their dad. They know Daddy’s Caddy will pump new life into patient and community services and education for kidney patients, adding one more accomplishment to his already lengthy list of life triumphs.