Hit especially hard by the poor economy, a manufacturer of recreational vehicles is donating some of their excess motor homes and campers to Habitat for Humanity and other charitable organizations as a tax write-off.

Mike Newcomb, spokesman for Iowa-based Winnebago, said that the stalling economy, coupled with the public’s lingering memory of last summer’s $4 gasoline has all but halted demand for the company’s gas-guzzling road-hogs.

Indeed, with price tags running upwards of $100,000, and gas mileage of 4 miles per gallon at best, such a luxury is quickly put on the back-burner by nervous consumers.

“Even many well-heeled retirees - our bread-and-butter customers - have been reluctant to invest in RVs,” stated Newcomb. “We are top-heavy in inventory, and cash flows are being pinched. Might as well find some other uses for these things that are just sitting around in our lot, taking up space. We tried brainstorming new markets for them, adapting the motor homes as storage containers, highway billboards, mobile meth labs…but there just weren’t any takers.”

Then, company execs had an epiphany. “Why not donate a bunch of them for people to live in?,” suggested one of Winnegago’s VPs. “Cripes, why the hell not? They have every comfort of home, and they’re certainly more liveable than those crappy FEMA trailers. I think we can spare a bunch of our older models that we probably wouldn’t sell anyway, and the tax write-offs will sweeten the pot for us.”

CEO Brett Ginsberg couldn’t agree more. “Ever since my stock options tanked and I lost the mortgage on my house, I’ve been living in one of those things,” admitted the company leader. “It’s do-able. All you need is a place to park it, water and sewer hookup and a gas generator. It beats living in some shit hole apartment.”

Officials at Habitat for Humanity were ecstatic over the sudden gesture of generosity.

“This takes a real load off our backs,” exclaimed a Habitat donations coordinator in Knoxville, Tennessee, on word that he was to receive a fleet of the hulking vehicles. “No more planning, no more construction hassles, just drive the damn thing onto the lot, shove some concrete blocks under it, hook up the propane and it’s ready to go in an hour or two. Now we can buy a plot of land and stuff twenty, maybe thirty of these rigs in there.”

Recipients of the new Habitat “homes” were equally enthusiastic.

“Not only do we get our own roof over our heads, we get mobility,” said an unidentified woman as a new camper home was being backed into her lot at a trailer park. “If things get bad here, I lose my job or  something, or creditors start coming after me, I can easily pull up stakes and move our asses right outta here in the middle of the night. I like having that kind of freedom.”