Vermont Business Magazine Wheels for Warmth, a program that raises funds to help Vermonters heat their homes, announced today that its 2016 tire collection and sale raised $54,717 for emergency fuel assistance programs. Tire collections were held at 15 locations around the state this year. Sales were held at DuBois Construction in Middlesex and, for the second year, at Casella Construction in Mendon. The program sold 2,250 safe, DMV-inspected tires at an affordable cost and recycled 2,630 donated, unsafe tires this year.
Wheels for Warmth photo at DuBois Construction 2015. A DMV inspector sorts tires.
In its 12th year, Wheels for Warmth now includes more than a dozen partners who sponsor the event, host sales and collection sites, or support the program through donated goods and services. With their help, all costs associated with promoting and implementing Wheels for Warmth are covered without using program funds, which allows 100 percent of the proceeds from tire recycling fees and sales to go directly to fuel assistance programs.
“It has been incredible to see how this program and the Wheels for Warmth team have grown since we first started more than a decade ago, and we are so grateful to all of the volunteers, partners and sponsors who support this program to help our neighbors in need,” said Governor-elect Phil Scott, who established the program. “What is clear year after year, is that Vermonters need help staying safe on the roads and warm in their homes through the winter. What makes me so proud of this program is that it helps support those needs in a way that also benefits our environment.”
Since its launch in 2005, Wheels for Warmth has raised $367,515 in total, with proceeds from its tire sales benefitting heating assistance programs at community action agencies including Capstone Community Action, CVOEO (Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity in Northwestern Vermont) and BROC Community Action in Southwestern Vermont. Over that time, the program has sold nearly 17,000 tires and recycled nearly 28,000 tires, reducing the number of out-of-use tires that might otherwise end up in Vermont’s rivers and along the roadways.
This year’s Wheels for Warmth program was sponsored by: Casella Waste Systems, Bond Auto, Vianor Tire, WDEV/Radio Vermont Group, VSECU (Vermont State Employees Credit Union), Jet Service Envelope, Associated General Contractors, Dubois Construction, Casella Construction, Inc., Newton Construction, Village Grocery, Dick Mazza’s Store, Maplewood LTD, Chip Percy and the Percy Crew, OMYA, Pete’s Tire, Accura Printing, Capitol Grounds, Booth Brothers Dairy, McKenzie Country Classics, McGillicuddy’s Irish Pub, 94.5 “The Drive”, 98.9 WOKO, KOOL 105, Best Western Inn and Suites, Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, ADA Traffic Control, and WorkSafe.
Source: Governor-elect Phil Scott 12.13.2016