Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Olejniczak
----Source: Thorp Courier, (Thorp, Clark Co., WI) 12/16/2015
Courtesy Auto Give Back (Donates Over $8,000 Local Charities – 12 December 2015)
Back in January of 2014, Courtesy Auto and Truck Center of Thorp announced that the local car dealership and service center was initiating a new program to benefit multiple local charities. Throughout 2014, Courtesy collected funds through car sales and services, putting away $25.00 from every vehicle sold for one of the Community Give Back program charities as chosen by each individual customer. After the success of the initial year’s program, Courtesy opted to make it an annual event.
On Saturday, December 12, with the second year reaching its close, the staff at Courtesy Auto and Truck Center hosted a big celebratory event for the community, and especially the charity representatives. With live music by Cynor Classics, and Courtesy providing food catered in by K&B Hayloft of Withee, the evening was off to a fun-filled start. Even Santa stopped by to meet with all of the community members and charity leaders from Greenwood, Gilman, Stanley, Sheldon, Neillsville and Thorp.
As the night progressed, all attention was turned to the front of the room as staff members from the dealership each took turns, recognizing the efforts behind each of the six charities and non-profit organizations before presenting them with their checks. Last year, Courtesy donated just over $5,000 to local charities, but thanks to the support of customers from all around the area and the combined efforts of the sales staff, Courtesy managed to increase their donation amount by 40%!
Courtesy Auto and Truck Center donated a total of $8,100 to the six organizations, including $1,200 to the Clark County Humane Society; $1,100 to the Jump River/Sheldon Food Pantry & Potter’s Food Shelf; $1,250 to the Greenwood Food Pantry; $1,300 to the Stanley Food Pantry and Weekend Backpack Program; $950 to the Fruit of the Vine Food Pantry; and $1,500 to the Thorp Food Pantry.
“This is our second year running the Community Give Back program and it was our hope to make this year bigger and better than the last. This year, we saw a 40% increase in donations,” said Al Olejniczak of Courtesy. “We hope the Community Give Back program continues to grow and with the community’s help, we can get there. This couldn’t have been done without the support of our customers. Thank you to them as well as our employees. This is the result of their effort and time throughout the entire year. We are a part of the fabric of this community. The buck doesn’t stop here –we keep passing it around.
Pictured are staff members from Courtesy Auto and Truck Center gathered with representatives from the six non-profit organizations after being presented their donations during the Courtesy Give Back event.
