Because the little 1953 sports car named Grace breaks down every day, it’s hard to say when it’ll be back in the metro area, but it’s on the way now from the Pacific Northwest, and when it arrives, members of the Atlanta Austin Healey Club plan to help its driver, John Nikas, raise money to fight cancer.
The goal is to find places to park it where folks in this area will be able to write the names of cancer survivors or victims on the dilapidated Austin Healey 100. The little car has already been inscribed with the names of more than 11,000 people, says John Homonek, 57, of Duluth, and vice president of the club.
Nikas, 42, started a non-profit charity, Drive Away Cancer (driveawaycancernow.org) and has been driving the tiny car back and forth across the country, hitting almost every state, collecting signatures and donations.
He says he expects to be in the Atlanta area by the end of the month, but since his main goal is to give rides to sick kids, it’s hard to stay on schedule. When he hears about a sick child, he detours, often by many hundreds of miles.
“What I care about most is to make kids happy,” he says. “We won’t say no to kids.”
His goal is to collect more names of cancer victims on the car and raise money for his 501(c)3 non-profit charity, as well as for the American Cancer Society. Homonek says the Atlanta club will accept checks made out to Drive Away Cancer in care of the Atlanta Austin Healey Club of Atlanta at 4319 Abbotts Bridge Rd., Suite 5, Duluth, 30097.
Homonek says the Atlanta club plans to donate up to $2,500 to the charity and will have a banner made with the Drive Away Cancer logo and website address.
“We will collect donations for the right to sign it,” he says. “We will take the banner to our events and proudly display it and offer rides in our Healeys, too, just like John Nikas does.”
Nikas began his campaign over a year ago, with the goal of making sick kids feel better.
“We have rolled 55,000 miles now,” he says. “It touches people. Kids with cancer sit in the car. Somebody gave me his father’s ashes to carry. For everyone, we give them a chance to remember.”
He has raised about $10,000 and lives by three rules: “Never give up, say ‘yes’ to every kid who wants a ride and never cry in front of a child. We’ve had a lot of help from Healey clubs, British car clubs, hotrod groups. It’s been pretty amazing.”
“We’ve given rides to almost 900 kids,” he says.
Charlie Moshell, the Atlanta club’s president, says Nikas drove Grace to a national show of vintage British cars in Kentucky, “and everybody is on board to help.”
Nikas says the campaign started as an attempt to cheer up a Los Angeles man after his diagnosis with multiple myeloma.
Some donated money has gone to families to help pay health care expenses or funeral costs, and some to offset the expenses of keeping Grace running.
“It was never intended to last beyond the time it took to drive across country and we had not anticipated that anyone would become aware of our efforts,” he says.
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