A group in Gainesville aims to help others shift gears and get back on the road to success.
The Dignity Project Second Generation helps the Gainesville community as a nonprofit organization that teaches high school, UF and Santa Fe students how to repair cars and computers, along with other skills it takes to run a business.
Mainly, the company takes donated cars, repairs them and sells them to the Gainesville community. Some cars can sell for as little as $500 in special cases. Recently, the project began doing the same for computers.
The Dignity Project Second Generation earned nonprofit status in the first week of July, which will help it to fulfill its motto: "We give a hand up, not a hand out."
Before, the project took donated cars and used them as instructional tools but did not sell the cars.
With the nonprofit status, it is now possible for the organization to earn money by selling the products it repairs for profit, which can be put back into the project.
Kim Lapan, executive director of the project, said he teaches people skills to help them get their lives back on track.
Those who volunteer will learn how to work on cars, bikes and computers, Lapan said.
The Dignity Project existed once before until February 2010, when it went bankrupt after getting away from its focus: repairing the donated cars, Lapan said.
The group is back with an all-new cast and crew, with the exception of Lapan, who was involved in the original Dignity Project.
The cars the project repairs provide basic transportation for people who need cars to keep their jobs, go to the doctor's office or get kids to school, Lapan said.
Cars are donated after they have seen years of use. They are then worked on by the still-learning automotive students.
"Now you are helping these people be more self-sufficient and give them back their dignity, because now they are out there in the community working, working with the community," he said.
In the beginning of the Dignity Project Second Generation, due to insurance purposes, the organization could only take on volunteers aged 18 and above, meaning it primarily worked with high-school dropouts.
The Dignity Project Second Generation started in May 2010, two months after the original closed.
"We started from scratch," Lapan said. "We worked for a month without electricity, and we worked three months without a phone."
No one who is part of the Dignity Project Second Generation gets paid.
Lapan said one of the first success stories of the Dignity Project is of a high-school dropout named Kirk Lapan, his son.
Kirk started before his father. He was trained by Rich Lowery, who now sits on the project's board. The younger Lapan was able to earn an automotive certificate from Santa Fe College.
Kirk is now teaching automotive work at the Dignity Project Second Generation.
Kirk Lapan, head mechanic and head instructor, said he has helped countless people in the community on and off since 1999.
For 12 years, both Kirk and his father have been driving the 45 minutes each way from Lake City to Gainesville in order to give their time and services to the Dignity Project Second Generation.
Kirk Lapan said he has worked in dealerships and hates the cutthroat industry, and he "always seems to come back home" to the Dignity Project.
When the Dignity Project began, about $2 million a year in donations were going into the projects with about 300 cars on the lot. Now, there are 15 cars, Lapan said.
The original Dignity Project gave away about 880 cars, and two have been donated back, one of which was recently just sold to a homeless man for storage, he said.
Due to the state of the economy, people are not donating their cars, especially since they can scrap cars for money. This means fewer donations for the project.
But the dedication to the work remains even after the failure of the original Dignity Project.
Lapan and his team solicited car donations, did what repairs they could and organized themselves a second time - in the dead heat of summer - for a month without electricity or pay.
"I've been doing this for a year. I'm on Social Security, just barely making it, no savings, nothing, but that's how much I feel for this," Lapan said. "Because I believe we can help and make a difference, I have made a difference in a lot of young men's and women's lives, and to me there is not a better feeling."
Santa Fe freshman Nick Vlacos, left, works on the intake manifold while full-time instructor Kirk Lapan, right, shines a light under a raised car at the Dignity Project Complex, 1125 SE Fourth St., on Wednesday.
