DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Wooten family’s 17-year-old Toyota had just ‘given up the ghost’ leaving the family of seven to wonder how they were going to manage. A call from fellow Palm Coast resident Cayti Brinegar and co-founder of the Seawolf Privateers, Inc., put their fears to rest.
Surrounded by family and national media on Saturday, August 24, in the Fan Zone of the Daytona International Speedway, Josh Wooten stepped forward to accept the keys to his like-new 2021 Toyota Camry courtesy of the National Auto Body Council’s Recycled Rides program.
NABC Recycled Rides Program Director Dale Ross then said the most famous words in motorsports history ‘driver, start your engine’.
Choking on emotion, Wooten explained how much the gift meant to his family as both a disabled veteran and a foster parent during a press conference in the Godwin Kelly Deadline Room at the Daytona International Speedway hours before the Coke Zero Sugar 400 race.
“It’s going to mean the world and this will allow us to normalize the life of these poor children, who had a rough start,” said Wooten, holding back tears.
“We are really, really excited, and Seawolf Privateers have dropped whatever they were doing and helped us out so many times. We are so excited when we were told we were actually going to get a car. I was like, it couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m so grateful for National Auto Body Council, Geico, Enterprise, Daytona Toyota, the International Speedway, and so many other people that have come together to make this possible.”
Representing an organization dedicated to supporting foster families, the Seawolf Privateers, Inc. use fantasy as a way to help break down the barriers for children experiencing the upheaval of foster care, by dressing as pirates. A krewe of individuals supports the organization’s mission of programs through fundraisers and their direct connections to the business community. In this case a connection with Geico helped facilitate the Wooten family’s gift.
“We knew Josh was such a deserving person as a veteran, a Navy veteran disabled, during his service time. He and his wife have four children and opened their home to take on foster children. They’re on their fifth child now. Josh needed a car desperately, his car had bit the dust and he was the perfect recipient,” said Seawolf Privateers, Inc. co-founder Cayti Brinegar.
“We knew he had sacrificed his time fighting for our country, protecting us, and we knew he would be the perfect person to go ahead and be the recipient. We’re grateful to NABC’s Recycled Rides program to be able to afford Josh this beautiful gift today,” she said.
Comprised of members of the collision repair industry, the NABC’s gift represents the auto industry across the spectrum from insurance companies to paint companies and parts manufacturers.
“Everyone in the collision repair industry come together under the umbrella of this program called the NABC Recycled Rides and what we do is we take vehicles that are donated by the insurance companies, and we have them refurbished to like brand new condition, and we work with local charities to find people in need of reliable transportation,” shared Ross during the press conference.
“About 75 percent of those go to veterans otherwise to single mothers getting out of abusive relationships, people aging out of foster care programs, things like that. People that don’t have transportation. You and I think nothing about jumping in the car and going to the grocery store or the drug store, or going to work, but many people don’t have that opportunity. They take buses, public transportation, and you rearrange you whole life around transportation when you don’t have a reliable vehicle,” he said.
Dennis Gair was among those from the Daytona Toyota team on site for the gifting. Wearing his Vietnam Veteran hat, the moment was especially poignant for him to see another veteran on the receiving end.
“It is very important. This is not my first, it’s my second. I guess it’s the body shop’s fourth now. You know, you want to give and sometimes you don’t have a way to give. This is an excellent way for the body shop and dealerships to contribute to needy people,” said Gair, sharing morale was high as the dealership’s team worked on the car.
“It was very high. You can tell by the quality. It’s brand new. There’s some love in that restoration. It looks like a 2024.”
