William Glenn donated not one car, but several. Maybe that’s because he’s the kind of donor who understands the impact of doing good and helping to mentor educate children. After all, Glenn is the founder and CEO of his own nonprofit, G.A.P.4Kids, an organization that like ours, is all about educating children.
The purpose of G.A.P.4Kids is to teach graphic design and digital art to young people. In our hi-tech world, kids need STEM and technological know-how to get ahead. G.A.P.4Kids serves to ensure that its young participants will be able to compete in the highly competitive world of graphic design.
With his pleasant manner, Glenn is like most of our donors: he understands that donation is not only convenient and smart, but a way to give charity. When we spoke with William Glenn, we learned that giving is, for him, a value close to his heart. But we’ll let him tell you about that in his own words.
Kars4Kids: You have a nonprofit called G.A.P.4Kids, a graphic arts program for children. Can you give us an overview of the programs you offer?
William Glenn: Before the pandemic, my nonprofit, Graphic Arts Program For Kids, Inc (G.A.P.4Kids, Inc.), offered a variety of programs that focused on in-person digital arts enrichment programming for youth ages 7-17 in public, private, and home schools. The primary goal of the program is to help young people find their unique voice by introducing them to the basic understanding of graphic design programs and the enjoyment of creating digital art. This is done through a series of fun lessons designed to give youth the skills needed to start creating their own digital art. However, since the pandemic, I’ve had to restructure our in-person programming model and move to an online model, which my team and I are currently working on and will be providing exclusively on our website gap4kids.org.
I believe strongly that G.A.P.4Kids, Inc. is an essential key in helping youth to be self-expressive; explore the world of digital art creation; and build the skills needed to become entrepreneurs. All of those topics are covered in the G.A.P.4Kids digital arts program. I strongly believe that even in a pandemic, it is vitally important to be flexible and adaptable to these challenging times without compromising quality education programs our kids desperately need to flourish. Once our new online platform is developed and goes live, youth will be able to take virtual digital art classes, learn from various digital art instructors, meet and collaborate with other youth artists from around the world and have a safe place to develop their budding digital art skills.
Kars4Kids: Can you talk about the need for programs such as those you offer at Gap4Kids? Is there something your programs offer that isn’t offered to children in art classes in the public school system?
William Glenn: G.A.P.4Kids, Inc. was established to fill a void that I noticed from my nearly 20+ years of working in school districts all across Los Angeles: Creative arts and technology classes – especially in the inner cities – were becoming obsolete, leaving scores of amazingly talented youth without an outlet for the positive self-expression that those fields provide. Our digital native youth have a hunger to share their stories and who they are with their peers, communities and the world. G.A.P.4Kids, Inc. serves as an opportunity for creativity in the digital age that acts as a bridge providing youth with a connection to their unique voices through digital art. This is desperately needed in underserved communities in which the creative arts have been so severely underfunded.
Kars4Kids: We understand you donated your own car and are now donating your father’s cars. What made you choose donation over selling or junking these cars, yourself?
William Glenn: Sadly, we recently lost my mother, who was married to my father for 53 years. My mom was an educator who loved teaching, giving, and caring for others. It was her life’s mission to be of service to others and share her faith with everyone she encountered. Kars4Kids is an amazing organization, so when the opportunity to donate more cars presented itself, I knew exactly who to call. My family has always believed in being a blessing to others, and I believe that the donation of my parents’ cars is a way to carry on my mother’s legacy of giving.
Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about the experience of donating your car to Kars4Kids? What was it about the process that turned you into a repeat donor?
William Glenn: Kars4Kids makes the donation process incredibly easy. From the moment I called and arranged pick up of both cars, I received messages alerting me of the driver’s location, so I always knew when to expect them. The driver was outstanding and took great care while working with my elderly father to get his classic 1973 Cadillac DeVille started. Kars4Kids excellently followed through by providing the official tax receipts. Everyone was beyond professional and treated the emotional attachment my father had to donating his wife’s car (and his car) very respectfully.
Kars4Kids: Why Kars4Kids?
William Glenn: Kars4Kids has been an outstanding and professional organization to donate to. Your mission to “fund educational, developmental and recreational programs for low-income youth . . .” resonates with me because of its similarity to my mission for Graphic Arts Program For Kids, Inc, (G.A.P.4Kids,Inc.): to provide quality creative and graphic arts programming for low-income youth and underserved communities while assisting them to express their unique voice in this digital age. All in all, Kars4Kids has been a great pleasure to work with throughout the years.
