Ralph Harris was left using a wheelchair after a 150-pound improvised explosive device detonated near him during a 2013 combat deployment in Afghanistan. This week, the 36-year-old San Antonio Marine Corps veteran and Purple Heart recipient got something that changes that equation entirely: an adapted 2024 Chevrolet Silverado Trail Boss he can drive himself, with his wife and four kids riding along.
USAA teamed up with Crash Champions and the National Auto Body Council's Recycled Rides program to present Harris with the truck, according to KSAT. The Freedom Mobility Foundation handled the actual modifications, adapting the Silverado Trail Boss to accommodate Harris's wheelchair and giving him the ability to transport himself and his family independently, the station reported.
That independence came at a steep cost. After the blast in Afghanistan, Harris underwent 10 surgeries, and his spinal injuries left him wheelchair dependent, per the station's report. He is a husband and father of four, and he told KSAT the truck gave him hope and a way to give back, saying the vehicle modifications helped him become the father and husband he wanted to be.
A Foundation Built Around Mobility and Independence
The Freedom Mobility Foundation describes itself as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit created to restore mobility for active military service members, veterans, first responders and people with physical impairments, according to the Freedom Mobility Foundation. The organization says candidates for its equipment gifts are vetted and selected by national and regional military-service and first-responder nonprofits rather than applying directly.
The foundation's work has shown up elsewhere in Texas recently. The Fort Worth Report detailed how the group outfits customized 4x4 trucks with hand controls, lift systems and other adaptive features, and reported that it had helped 43 veterans and first responders reclaim their independence since its founding. That same report said the average turnaround from vehicle donation to delivery runs about 90 days, and described Marine veteran Matt Amos receiving a customized 2019 Chevy Silverado on July 5, 2025, at a Southlake Lions Club car show.
How Recycled Rides Turns Donated Vehicles Into Gifts
The truck Harris received moved through NABC's Recycled Rides program, in which insurers provide vehicles and local body shops perform repair work, according to the National Auto Body Council.
San Antonio has been a repeat stop for this kind of giveaway. In 2022, USAA and NABC presented refurbished vehicles to 15 veterans and their families at USAA headquarters in San Antonio, Autobody News reported. The following year, Recycled Rides joined USAA, Caliber Collision and the Women's Industry Network to give two refurbished vehicles to two San Antonio women veterans, and this past September two more refurbished vehicles went to two San Antonio veterans in need, with GEICO as donor and Caliber Collision and Crash Champions handling repairs, per the National Auto Body Council.
Part of a Much Larger National Effort
A National Auto Body Council announcement put the cumulative count at more than 3,750 vehicles valued at roughly $67 million. GEICO has donated more than 1,000 vehicles through the program, making it Recycled Rides' largest car-donor partner, while Crash Champions has gifted more than 250 vehicles, according to the council.
Earlier this year, the same network of partners delivered a refurbished 2021 Kia Sorento, donated by GEICO and repaired by Crash Champions, to an Augusta, Georgia veterans' charity called Pawsitive for Heroes that trains and places service dogs with veterans, the council reported. For Harris, the organizations behind his gift have already given dozens of veterans new vehicles, and KSAT reports the initiative continues on — one more San Antonio family now able to move through daily life together, without a wheelchair standing between them.
