Hundreds of people filled the lawn of Arrowhead Ranch this weekend for the bi-annual "round-up" car auction. The cars are donated by the public, then fixed up by at-risk kids at the ranch. It's a big fundraiser for the organization, but directors said the economy is having an impact.
The auction typically brings in more than $50,000, but this year directors said raising that amount could be a challenge. They said two years ago about 100 cars were donated and auctioned off, but last year that number fell to 80 and this year only 60 cars were at the auction. That's a major decrease, meaning less money to help support the organizations programs.
"People are holding onto cars longer than probably have been in the past," Development Director Brandon Terronez said.
"People are taking them to junk yards and getting cash in hand, junk yards are offering more money than before."
Terronez said in these tough times, cold hard cash seems to be a lot more appealing than a tax deduction, which is exactly what donors get for giving their car to Arrowhead. He said more non-profits are also using car auctions as a way to make money.
"Being a non-profit is hard right now, donations are shrinking, but fundraiser's are growing, it's the nature of the beast, everyone wants to keep their organization going and there are a lot of worthy causes out there."
However, it's not all bad news. Terronez said while there are less cars this year, the quality is up.
"That will help a lot. In the past we had a lot of backyard beauties, as they are called, this year we got a lot nicer cars, hoping to make up that gap."
Meanwhile, even though the economy is having somewhat of a negative impact on Arrowhead Ranch, it is exactly what brought many of customers out to the auction Sunday. Paul Sherwin has never been before, but said he came out this year hoping to score a deal. He was the highest bidder for a 2003 Subaru Forester.
"For a 2003 vehicle and only paying $3,000 dollars for it, worked out really great. I know I couldn't have found a thing like that from a dealer or even a private owner," he said.
Terronez said despite some of the challenges non-profits are facing when it comes to fundraising, Arrowhead Ranch is still strong, and has even recently developed several new programs. The Arrowhead Ranch "round-up" auction has been both a fund raising and teaching tool for at-risk youth there for 40 years.
