Losing a car is one of those problems that quietly becomes every other problem. No car means no reliable way to a job, a shift, a clinic appointment or a school run — and for a lot of families that’s the difference between getting back on their feet and not.
Project Spark is Midas’s national response to that. Rather than writing cheques, the programme uses the one thing a repair network is uniquely good at: fixing cars and putting them back on the road in someone’s hands.
What the programme actually does
- Takes in donated vehicles that need work.
- Repairs and refurbishes them through the Midas franchise network.
- Gives them away at no cost to recipients facing genuine transportation hardship.
Midas works with 1-800-Charity Cars and Family Promise to identify who receives the vehicles, so the shops handle the repairs and the partner organisations handle the need assessment.
Who it’s aimed at
The programme focuses on families experiencing financial hardship or housing instability, alongside veterans and first responders. The common thread is people for whom a working vehicle unlocks everything else.
Why this matters if you work in a bay
Most charitable initiatives ask employees for a donation. This one runs on the skill you already have. A car that arrives undriveable and leaves safe and reliable is the entire mechanism of the programme — the repair is the donation.
That’s a genuinely unusual thing about this trade. Very few jobs let the ordinary work of your day directly change someone’s circumstances.
How to get involved
- Donate a vehicle — through the 1-800-Charity Cars donation process.
- Support Family Promise — financially, if you’d rather contribute that way.
Full details of the programme are on the Midas Project Spark page.
Working in the network
Arnaz Group takes part in Project Spark across our 10 Midas shops in Wayne, Oakland and Washtenaw counties. The repairs happen in our bays, done by our technicians — which means the people who work here are the ones putting those cars back on the road.
Summary based on information published by Midas. See the official Project Spark page for current programme details and eligibility.
Related reading
If you want to spend your days somewhere the work adds up to more than a repair order, we’re hiring technicians, service advisors and shop managers.