05/04/2026
We have some bittersweet news to share with our Chalkbird family.
After years of car shows, community events, and more chalk drawings than we can count, we've made the difficult decision to retire the Chalkbird Firebird.
I want to be clear about something. This wasn't a quick decision. The Firebird last appeared at a car show in May of last year. Over the past twelve months We quietly attempted to bring it to four more events. It couldn't make any of them. For a year I kept thinking we would find a way. I didn't want to give up on it. But after twelve months of trying I realized that holding on wasn't honoring the mission. It was delaying a decision I already knew I had to make.
The car needs significant mechanical work that we can't responsibly fund right now. As a nonprofit, every dollar we receive is a trust, and that trust belongs in our mission of VEDS education, awareness, and research, not major mechanical repairs. It was not an easy decision. But it was the right one.
The Firebird was never just a car. It was the moment Chalkbird became real. We brought it to a car show with a box of chalk and an idea, that awareness doesn't have to be clinical to matter. That a kid drawing a rainbow on a hood could start a conversation that saves a life. And it worked. Over and over again, it worked.
We want to say thank you to everyone who was part of that.
If you drew on the car, your name is still on it somewhere.
If you stopped and asked what VEDS was, you might have changed your family's future.
If you followed us because of that car, we hope we earned your continued support for what comes next.
One thing we've been sitting with: the Firebird is 40 years old. The median undiagnosed VEDS life expectancy is 48. There's something quietly meaningful about a car that carried this mission for so long now resting at the same age that too many VEDS patients never reach. We didn't plan that. But we noticed it.
Chalkbird moves forward. Our First Responder Education program, our community awareness work, and our research funding don't need a car to continue. If anything, we're more focused now than ever.
And the door isn't entirely closed. If the right person or organization ever comes forward to help restore the Firebird, we'd love to have that conversation. But we're not asking. We're just leaving the door open.
Thank you for being here. All of you. 💙
https://www.chalkbirdinc.org/post/chalkbird-inc-retires-the-chalkbird-firebird-after-years-of-veds-awareness-work-across-the-communit
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