Dealers donate time, services and goods

When an older woman in Charlottesville, Va., had her groceries delivered by Carter Myers Automotive CEO Liza Borches, she said it was the first time she had seen a smiling face in more than 10 days. Borches was more than happy to deliver the food and a smile.

"It was just a nice, small thing we could do but it made a huge difference to her," Borches told Automotive News.
The Virginia-based dealership group, which has 15 stores serving five markets, has a temporary help line that offers grocery, pharmacy and essential-errand deliveries to community members. It has been used by individuals and nonprofit organizations that need volunteers.

When deciding how to help the local communities, Borches said it was simple: "We have people, we have cars and we have time."

The help-line phone number is listed on the Carter Myers Automotive social media channels, and the group is running a TV commercial to inform the public of the initiative. Team members are donating their time and vehicles to help Meals on Wheels in all five of Carter Myers Automotive's markets.

Other dealers across the U.S. also are offering errand runs and delivering goods to those in need.

An errand service for older people was implemented at Giles Automotive in Louisiana at the end of March as part of its "Giles Gives Back" program.

"They were the ones that were impacted the most with all of this with not being able to leave their homes," said Sonny Stelly, Giles Automotive's customer service manager.

The Lafayette location has helped nearly 30 people. Dealership staff members have been delivering groceries, pharmacy orders and offering pickup and delivery of vehicles that need to be serviced.

Stelly said community members who aren't using the service are calling and thanking the dealership for helping local residents.

The four-store dealership group said it plans to continue helping older people in its communities throughout the pandemic.

In Kent, Wash., south of Seattle, Bowen Scarff Ford-Lincoln started a GoFundMe drive on its website in mid-March called "Help Local Hardworking Nurses." The donations are used to buy snacks that are delivered to nurses' break rooms at four hospitals near the dealership. As of May 13, $15,536 had been raised.

Dealership owner Mark Scarff makes daily trips to area grocery and warehouse stores and takes the goods back to the dealership showroom to be packaged into bags for delivery.

The first deliveries were made to Valley Medical Center on March 23. The dealership also is delivering food to nurses at MultiCare Auburn Medical Center, MultiCare Covington Medical Center and Highline Medical Center.

From snacks for nurses to groceries for older people, dealers are doing what they can to support their communities during the pandemic.

"We want to say thank you and we appreciate everything you're doing," Bowen Scarff General Manager Paul Ray said. "It's the nurses and doctors right now that are really the heroes of all of this."