How WLR Automotive's Businesses Are Saving Thanksgiving

If you stop into any one of The Lube Center (TLC), The Auto Spa (TAS) or the Auto Repair (TAR) locations this fall, you'll probably notice a laundry basket filled with nonperishable goods. It's not necessarily what you’d expect to see at a car center, but WLR Automotive does a lot more than just wash, lube, and repair work.

Each store also gives back to the community it serves, and these donations will help provide local families in need with a full Thanksgiving dinner. It's part of WLR Automotive's Feeding Families program—the annual company-wide food drive now in its sixth year.

Learn more about WLR Automotive Group's companies, The Auto Spa, The Lube Center and The Auto Repair

Serving Up Something Good

Each TLC and TAS shop in Maryland and Pennsylvania—as well as WLR’s TAR, corporate office and Mighty Distribution Center—will be collecting nonperishable food items from October 29 through November 9. Each customer who makes a donation will receive a free gift as a thank for their participation.

At the end of the collection period, all the baskets are brought to the corporate office, where the goods are unpacked, inventoried, and divided evenly.

"I would say on average, there's enough food in a basket to feed a family of four probably several times," says Michelle Rankin, WLR's Marketing Manager. "If for some reason there's something lacking [that hasn't been donated], then we'll take care of filling it, but quite frankly, we never have a lack of food."

Thanks to the generous donations from customers and employees, each Feeding Families basket has "everything a family would need for a Thanksgiving meal," says Rankin. WLR also provides a turkey, as well as the tablecloth, napkins, plates, plastic ware, and roasting pans needed to prepare, serve, and enjoy the meal.

All the Fixins

Last year, WLR's Feeding Families initiative provided a Thanksgiving meal for 25 families in need. This year, they're hoping to feed 30 families.

Every year from store to store, there's a wide variety of recipients. "Sometimes it's a family who is struggling right now, or going through hard times" Rankin explains. "Sometimes it's another organization that we donate to, like the Boys and Girls Club.” In other instances, the Feeding Families basket is donated to a local church or elementary school. "All four of our Montgomery County locations for the last couple of years have donated the baskets to a local elementary school," says Rankin, "and then the schools pass them on." As a group, the entire staff at the location agree on who their basket is going to.

“Changing Lives, One Neighbor At A Time”

Rankin expects that TLC and TAS will keep providing Thanksgiving meals to neighbors in need for many more years to come. "As a company, we participate with other organizations to collect needed items—like Soles of Love in the Garden—but this is our signature event for the year," she says.

The company’s employees enjoy giving back to their communities. “It actually turns into a bit of a contest amongst our locations as to who can bring in the most food," says Rankin. "They love a good contest!"

Employees also love being part of a company that cares about the communities they serve. Rankin says it's "part of our culture...to always help in some way, shape or form, and [Feeding Families] is one of the ways."

"A couple years ago, the President and CEO of our company asked us what made us different than other companies who do what we do, what made us stand out," she recalls. "One of our employees said, 'We don't just change oil. We change lives.'"

As a company, we liked that, "so we went through the initiative to make 'Changing Lives, One Neighbor at a Time' the purpose statement for our company," says Rankin. And the Feeding Families program, she adds, "was just one more way we, as a company, decided we could change lives."

Learn more about WLR Automotive Group's companies, The Auto Spa, The Lube Center and The Auto Repair.

First Photo: Courtesy of WLR Automotive Group