As COVID-19 began spreading across the nation in March, negatively affecting businesses and individuals, the Collision Industry Foundation (CIF) Board of Trustees created a special fund to provide assistance for those directly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Beginning in late March and throughout all of May, CIF received more than 600 applications for assistance coming from 35 different states, the majority of which met the CIF established criteria and were funded. More than $250,000 has been distributed to these individuals to date.
The initial fund was created using $100,000 of earlier industry donations to CIF, and that amount was quickly matched by CCC Information Services. Despite the challenging financial times, many additional organizations and individuals contributed generously throughout April and May, including:
- AirPro Diagnostics
- Guy Bargnes
- Colette Bruce
- Chris Caris
- Benjamin Cupelli
- Dave’s Collision Center/Halethorpe
- Kelli Dewberry
- Jeff Hendler
- Kurt Lammon
- Timothy Morgan
- PartsTrader
- Clark Plucinski
- Sean Carey Consultants
- Petra Schroeder
- Spanesi Americas
- Tanya Sweetland
- John Yoswick
Funds also were contributed from monthly donors Meredith Bradshaw and Bill Enross.
When the fund was on the verge of being exhausted and CIF put out a call for help to continue taking applications, Tractable donated $25,000 to the fund.
While the COVID-19 fund is now officially closed for applications, CIF is looking ahead to the probable natural disasters that remain on the horizon such as tornadoes, hurricanes and flooding.
“As the industry begins to see repair volume increase again, we must remember that our work is not over,” said AirPro Diagnostic’s Michael Quinn, president of CIF. “There will be other crises and other disasters, so we ask for your help to replenish the core CIF fund so that we may answer the call and continue to do our important work on behalf of the industry.”
All donations to CIF are tax deductible. To contribute to CIF for future industry support, visit collisionindustryfoundation.org.
