Paying Our Passion Forward…

There was an episode of Leno’s Garage last week called “Hand Made”. I tuned in to see the feature on Bobby Green’s shop and his Belly Tanker, but it was a bit later in the show that gave me pause. Aaron Valencia runs ‘Lost Angel’s’ Children’s Project. In a nut shell, he helps get at-risk youth off the streets of Los Angeles, and puts them in an after-school program at his auto shop. They learn how to weld, fabricate, build motors, and then the kids build a custom car with him from the ground up which is auctioned off to help more kids get in the program. It’s pretty genius, isn’t it? Here’s a guy who turned his life around from drugs and poverty and now he’s doing what he loves with old cars, and helping a whole generation of So Cal kids to do something productive with their time. Makes me want to pay it forward a bit more!