Say hello to the Audi-bon!
By Ilana DeBare
There’s a new set of wheels in action for Bay Area bird conservation, thanks to a pair of generous Audubon members in Tiburon.
Bill and Helen Lindqvist recently donated their used Audi stationwagon to Golden Gate Bird Alliance for use in our habitat restoration and Eco-education programs.
Of course we named it the Audi-bon!
The Lindqvists are active in Marin Audubon, with Helen serving on the board and overseeing their field trips and speaker programs for many years.
When they heard that Golden Gate Bird Alliance had a program to accept tax-deductible donations of used cars, they decided it would be a good use for their 18-year-old station wagon.
Most of the time, cars donated to GGBA are sold by a third-party contractor and the revenues are used to support our programs. But in the case of the Audi, the Lindqvists’ offer came just as our old GGBA minivan was on its last legs.
We needed a vehicle that could reliably transport the hoes, shovels, rakes, bird boxes, and other equipment used in our education and restoration work at sites like Pier 94 and Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline.
“We’ve got another car in the garage and didn’t really need the Audi any longer,” said Bill Lindqvist, a retired geologist. “We decided to donate it to a worthy cause. I also had an ulterior motive, in that I didn’t want to go the trouble of advertising it, interviewing buyers, and going on test drives.”
“We joined Audubon shortly after we arrived in the Bay Area about 15 years ago,” said Helen Lindqvist, a cactus lover with a botany degree. “We’d always been interested in birds, but once we started going on field trips, it became a major part of our lives.”
Thank you, Helen and Bill! The Audi-bon is now a major part of our lives… and the lives of the hundreds of schoolchildren and adult volunteers who help with our habitat restoration work throughout the year.
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Do you have a used car that you’d like to donate to Golden Gate Bird Alliance? We accept all cars, trucks, and other vehicles, whether running or not! You’ll get a tax donation and avoid the hassles of looking for a buyer. Plus our vehicle donation contractor will pick up the car from your house at no cost to you. Details available on the V-DAC vehicle donation web site. Or contact GGBA Office Manager Ben Sisson at bsisson@goldengatebirdalliance.org.
