Because We Love Youth, Books, and Christmas...

It always seems that the last month of the year is also the hardest. Pennies are pinched and budgets are tight while the holidays seamingly sneak up on us. Yet somehow, we manage to scrape up just enough money to have a little Holiday celebration; perhaps children are the reason as they emanate untainted joy at this time of year.

However, inevitably this year, some child somewhere will be unable to experience Christmas. This may be due to economic hardship that so many of us find ourselves in, or perhaps these children are homeless, or unclaimed and belong to no family~ orphans we call them, abandoned by society and those who gave them life. The term 'orphanage' seems so obsolete these days.

When I think of the word "ophanage" this is the kind of image I get in my head.

something old, of the past, nonexistent in my universe.....

However, they do exist.

In Arizona, we just like to slap another name on it to make it sound a little less bleary, and dark.

We use the word "shelter."

Yet, regardless of what it is called, it is our community's duty to reach out to these institutions and give the children in them hope and the means for a better life.

This year, we want to make a difference for the girls and boys at the Lighthouse Shelter in Phoenix ran by seven loving co-workers (monica, Rosie, Blanca, Anna, Ana, Andrea, and Avis) as well as Sheri Wang, who owns a nonprofit organization dedicated to changing lives. Clean Air Cab plans to volunteer at this year's Christmas party and we were hoping we could share the experience of bring joy to children with you. If you would like to make a donation to bring Christmas to this makeshift family, just read the list below and drop off any donations to the Clean Air Cab main office located at 1600 W. Main Street in Mesa, Arizona.

The Girls

Arayah, age two, wears size (3 years) and desperately wants a Little Tikes Princess Cozy Coupe

Ynica, age three, wears size (4) and hopes to find a Little Tikes Bumble Bee Buggy under the Tree

Monique, age 11 months, wears size (18mo) and would love a V Tech care and learn Teddy

Toryanna, age six, wears size (7) and wishes for a Girl Scooter for Christmas

Joline, age fourteen, wears size (small in juniors) and hopes to jam out to Yule-tide carols on a new I-pod.

The Boys

Kayden, age one, wears size (2) and yearns for a Little Tikes Go & Grow Lil Rollin Giraffe (ride-on)

Aaron, age five, wears size (4) and hopes to find K'Nex Mario Kart Brewser's Castle (Mario and Luigi at the starting line)

Andrew, age three, wears size (4) and would love to find a Fisher Price Grow with me Trike on Christmas

Derrick, age five, wears size (6) and wishes for the Leap Frog Leapster 2

Joziah, age three, wears size (4) and hopes for a Hot Wheels Criss Cross Crash Set

Xavier, age seven, wears size (10) and longs for an Air Hogs Hyperactives Radio Control Vehicle

Sean, age eight, wears a size (10) and wants a Nerf Vertex Nitron

Devin, age five, wears a size (6) and would be delighted to get a Racio flyer Lights & Sound Racer

Harley, age five, wears a size (6) and would be grateful to receive a Lego Harry Potter- The Knight Bus

Rico, age seven, wear a size (8) and wishes for a Lazer Stunt Chaser Dragon Fire

Devin, age four, wears a size (5) and longs for a Bayblade Metal Fusion Spiral Blitz, 2pk Earth Virgo



In addition to this Christmas project, we would also like to collect donations of books for the Extreme Library Makeover project in San Carlos as the non-profit organization Learning Through Literacy works with  tribal leaders and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. If you would like to find out more about Loving Through Literacy, click here... if you would like to read about the San Carlos Library project just click the link.

Every child in our community deserves access to the tools neccessary to receive the best of educations.

Be part of the Solution.

Treasures 4 Teachers

Everyone talks about the problems with the education system in America, and on a more personal level, Arizona. Teachers are underpayed, budget cuts are a common occurance, and the lack of respect we have have for those who teach and inspire us is atrocious.

Here are some facts you might not have known about the education system:

On average, every year teachers in America spend $500 to $1,200 out of their own salaries on school supplies for their students, sometimes even as much as $4,000. How can students learn and become productive members of society without the basic essentials for learning like paper, pencils, and other extremely basic school supplies? In Arizona, over half of all K-8 students cannot afford lunch, much less basic educational tools and supplies.

• Students cannot succeed when they lack the basic tools for learning.
• Our school systems have shifted the burden of providing supplies to teachers.
• On average, Arizona schools budget less than .5 cents per student daily for supplies.

 This is why organizations such as Treasures 4 Teachers exists:

"To promote earth-friendly education and ensure that students and classrooms across Arizona have the tools for learning by transferring the community's surplus materials into the hands of educators and students, regardless of economic status."

Teachers are able to come here and get the supplies they need from donations by the community at an affordable price.

Teachers even had access to die-cuts and lamanation services.

the amount of goods is virtually unlimited.

If you would like to make a great find like we did, Treasures-4-Teachers is located at

1230 West Southern

suite 105

Tempe, Arizona 85282

This facility has the capacity to bring so much joy and learning to children aross Arizona.

There are knick-Knacks for projects, books, and various objects to be used for supplemental learning.

.... and there are those trinkets that are purely fun, like the make an estamation bottle.

However, this organization cannot supply itself. It is up to us to volunteer our resources and our time to put together items that teachers can use. Steve Lopez, the owner of Clean Air Cab, paired up with another member of the Green Team at Clean Air Cab to volunteer for this weeks project:

look Steve volunteering AND doing work, like a Boss- because... well.. he is the boss.

sorting bottle caps.

this bottle cap belongs to.... GRYFFINDOR!

just kidding. We sorted them by color and size; I just couldn't resist some Harry Potter humor.

Here is one of our fellow volunteerers; we would love to see more of you at opportunities like this.

interested? click here to learn how you can help with Treasures-4-Teachers. 

The work was tedious....

but the end result was well worth it.

We may have even had a little bit too much fun with bottle-cap eyes, and such. I always wanted Green eyes.....

I'm not sure exactly what beverage these caps belong to.... but the green background with a footprint on it reminded me of Clean Air Cab. We have zero carbon footprint because of the cars we use in our service and the fact that we offset emissions and plant trees. I'm going to be a little biased and say there were my favorite caps.

This is the lovely team at Treasures-4-Teachers who made it possible for us to serve.

Thank you for the opportunity!

need a list for things you could donate? just click here.

Some of you may be wondering... what exactly happens to all those bottle caps?

 Well, some of them make beautiful murals reflecting the work of great artists, like Van Gogh.

 Others become charming outdoor crafts.

  

 Or refridgerator magnets for Mother's Day...

Some, but not all, are used to teach students how to count, and how to recognize color. However, as you can see, they can also teach how to be artistic and use ingenuity. They teach our students to live responsibly, to recycle, and to respect our planet.

Why did we choose to help Treasures-4-Teachers?

Because a better Life begins with a better Education.

Clean Air Cab will be there every step of the way in order to become

 Part of the Solution.

Clean Air Cab's First Food "Drive"

Clean Air Cab is hosting its 1st food drive through St. Mary's Food bank Alliance.
St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance is the recipient of donated food which is dispersed across the state with over 500 partner agencies at roughly 750 sites such as domestic violence shelters, dining halls, schools, churches, children's shelters, halfway houses, and senior centers.

DID YOU KNOW:

currently, 1 in every 4 children, 1 in every 7 adults, and 1 in every 12 seniors in Arizona live in poverty.

338,000 Arizona children live in poverty; 37% are under the age of 5

2 million Arizonans are considered working poor, living at or below the Federal Poverty guideline.


We are currently in the Thanksgiving season, and we have much to be thankful for. However, there are those who are less fortunate than us. While we sit at our tables, enjoying our Thanksgiving feast there will inevitably be someone who does not have food, who is going hungry, who is losing hope. The sad thing, is that the person who is going hungry is not seperated by hundreds of miles or an ocean... that someone is in our very community.

The current trend in an increased demand for Food Banks' help across the nation have left many of them depleted and unable to meet all the requests for meals. We have been given the opportunity to help those individuals with their basic right, the right to live. There is nothing more disheartening then hearing that there are individuals starving in America: the land of opportunity and dreams.

Let us come together, as a community, and give thanks. Let us help our neighbors. Let us give others a reason for this season.

Clean Air Cab will be hosting a food drive from November 15th until we have filled our donation boxes and feed those who are hungry. Feel free to come to our main office and drop off whatever items you wish to donate.

 Clean Air Cab is located at 1600 W. Main Street in Mesa

 items that are most wanted are:

Beans (canned or dried)

Canned fruit and vegetables

Canned soups, stews, chili, and pasta

Cereal (low sugar, whole grain)

Diapers (children's and adults)

Juice (canned, plastic, or boxed)

Tuna (vacuum packed or canned)

Peanut butter

Rice

but all donations would be greatly appreciated.

Because we are Clean Air Cab, a CAB company, we thought it would be darling if we literally did a "drive." So when you call us, we would love it if you would consider donating a few cans to the cause to feed a family when you use our service. Thank you so much for becoming part of the solution.

In Honor of Veteran's Day

"The willingness of American veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned them our lasting gratitude."

~Jeff Miller

"How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!"

~Maya Angelou

"It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle."

~Norman Schwarzkopf

"True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost."

~Arthur Ashe

"On this Veterans Day, let us remember the service of our veterans and their families who have sacrificed so much so that we can live free."

~Dan Lipinski

"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die."

~G.K. Chesterton

"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself."

~Joseph Campbell

"I think there is one higher office than president, and I would call that patriot."

~Gary Hart

Clean Air Cab would like to thank all of our military personal, whether you are in the service or a hero that has long been home. We would like to offer you a free cab ride with your military ID card, and we wish you a Happy Veteran's Day. Thank you again, for your service, for your friendship, for being our silent guardian angel. May God watch over you, as you have watched over us. May you come home safely.

Family Friendly... to the next level.

In the great words of Emeril Lagasse, "Lets kick it up another notch." While Emeril may have been talking about spices, Clean Air Cab took his words to heart and we have "kicked it up another notch" in regards to most of the things that we do here. Our end result? BAM. It's just that good.

What exactly did we raise to the next level? our service. our product. our drivers. our training.

We also became family friendly×10²⁷ which is a ridiculously large, albeit true, figure.

In order to celebrate this, our company mascot is a six month old baby, who you had the pleasure of meeting in out last post. If you didn't read it, shame on you. Read it after this so you know about our recent cab developments with Make-A-Wish Foundation. Her name is Lily, and even by scientific means, she is perfect (this is based on the fact that she is exactly in the 50 percentile of where babies should be at her age, hence, she is perfect.... not to mention she has those lovely cherubic cheeks).

 Lily is one of those children who will probably skip the crawling stage and go straight to walking.

That's why she is our mascot. Lily means business.

 At our last event Clean Air Cab gave away magnets, pens, and babies.

just kidding. We still have Lily.

Though to be quite honest, she was the best at giving things away.

She jut doesn't take no for an answer.

 Of course, all that work was exhasting.

But I must say, that I am personally grateful to work for a company that places such a heavy emphasis on Family. Steve Lopez, the owner and CEO of Beyond Green and Clean Air Cab, is also a family man with 3 children under the age of 6. While he does run a business, he sets aside time to be with his family. There are a total of five children who frequent the Clean Air Cab office with their parents. It is a wonderful institution to be able to have family so close and make your work force function as a team. We all work, care, and dream together as a family. The Clean Air Cab family.



LOOK. We even made Lily a badge.

so presh.

as you can see, Lily is "The Boss."

Don't upset her, or you might be at risk for getting "fired."

Lily practicing her business deal handshake with a fellow future management member

At Clean air Cab, we pride ourselves not only on the exceptional cab service we provide, which is a different kind of taxi cab experience than any other you've probably experienced~ but we pride ourselves on reaching out to the next generation, to teach them the skills they need for the future, and give them opportunities that they might not have had anywhere else.

We thank all of our patrons who have allowed us to help with the Phoenix Children's Hospital, Mesa United Way, Susan G. Komen, and now, Make-A-Wish foundation in addition to our two ASU scholarship cabs.

Make a Wish & The AZ Urban Race

Clean Air Cab is proud to announce our newest charity cab. This new cab was unveiled at the AZ Urban Race in honor of the charity it was for, Make-A-Wish foundation. Mountainside Fitness and Clean Air Cab have come together for a unique relationship. Local companies "Giving Big" is a way for others in our community to give to their favorite chosen charity in the area. This year "Miles for Smiles" is Mountainside fitness's charity cab effort.

 The cab is a deep blue with a new shimmer tone added to it, which really enhances the "sparkle" effect of the stars, a trademark emblem for Make-A-Wish.

 Make-A-Wish foundation has the mission to "grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy."

      The Make-A-Wish Foundation began with one boy’s wish. In 1980, 7-year-old Chris Greicius was being treated for leukemia.This little boy dreamed of becoming a police officer and with the help of U.S. Customs Officer Tommy Austin, that dream became a reality.

     On April 29, 1980, Austin and a caring group of DPS personnel started Chris’ day with a tour of the city in a department helicopter. He was then flown into headquarters where three cruisers and a motorcycle officer greeted him before his meeting with the DPS command staff.  Chris was sworn in as the first honorary DPS patrolman in state history. Ron Cox had also contacted John’s Uniforms, which made a custom-tailored DPS uniform for Chris. The officers presented the official uniform to Chris on May 1 and arranged a motorcycle proficiency test so he could earn wings to pin on his uniform, which he passedwith flying colors on his battery-operated motorcycle.
       On May 3rd, Chris passed away; however, this boy was able to live out his dreams and see his wishes come true.

 for a more in depth account of this story, please click here

 214,247 wishes have since been granted, with a wish being granted nearly every 40 minutes

 The real question, is whose life is being touched the most?

The child who sees their dream come true?

Or the volunteers, supportors, families, and friends who are truly inspired?

 our newest cab enables our local Arizona chapter of the Make-A-Wish foundation to touch the lives of so many people, by granting the wishes of these ill children.

 In the 2011 Fiscal year, the Arizona Chapter has granted 251 wishes

 There are so many dreams to save, and lives to bless.

Be part of the solution.

The BIG DAY of the AZ URBAN RACE

 We arrived at the AZ Urban Race in the early morning. It was cold and the ground was still drenched from the previous night's rain~ yet there were hundreds of people in attendance and overall the sight was beautiful to behold. 

 We even brought Clean Air Cab's mascott, Lily, with us to enjoy this ground-breaking occasion as well.

 Our Make-A-Wish cab had only just been finished the day before, yet it was perfectly placed in position. Despite the fact that the overcast hid it's sparkly sheen, it kept drawing admirers over to it.

 Mountainside Fitness gave us a table and we were excited to tell people about our new cab and how this cab will be different from any of our other charity cabs.

Meanwhile, as the Race continued... we saw many four legged friends and we just wanted to let you know that Clean Air Cab does not discriminate against Man's Best Friend. We are more than happy to take you and your furry pal wherever you need to go.

 We also saw some groups of runners who went all out in various themes and costume. They really added to the flavor of the event.

 The race had an insanely large crowd and with the white tents flanking both ends of the feild, the event appeared to be a modern day Renaissance Fair.

 Now, this is the part that gets more interesting, because here is where I tell you WHY this cab will be different. It is ironic that the Make-A-Wish foundation cab should be unveiled at a race, because the cab itself will be a "runner." The concept was designed by Clean Air Cab. This means, that the cab will have several sponsors (3), such as Mountainside Fitness, which has already agreed to be the main sponsor. These sponsors will pay a certain amount of money per a mile($x per mile), and at the end of the year, the donations will be matched to the yearly mile amount, and a check will be written to the charity. All year long, our Make-A-Wish foundation cab will be on the road, taking YOU where you need to go, and at the end of the year the amount of miles it traveled on trips will be calculated and the proceeds will have been sent to the Make-A-Wish foundation to facilitate the bringing about of children's dreams.

   

  Perhaps when we come near to that finish line next year, we will be able to see what we have accomplished and stand on our obstables with a smile playing upon our lips and a warmth in our heart because we know that we made a difference that no one else could.

 because what is this life without joy?

 and how can true happiness be attained without selflessness?

 or the spirit of giving?  

You cannot look at a child, and not see an untainted love for the human experience, no matter how bad the cards are that life may have dealt them.

It may just be another wrapped car, but it stands for an idea, of an organization, which is a group of people united under a single cause, which can make a difference to not only a child, but a family, a community, and ultimately humanity as a whole.