Submitted
The spirit of giving appears to be contagious for the employees of Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine. Just a few weeks ago, the Classic Employee Charity Fund presented four checks totaling $160,000 at their annual holiday fundraiser, benefiting four local charities – Christ’s Haven for Children, The GRACE Foundation, Sevenfold Peace Foundation and The Angel Fund of Trinity High School. A committee of Classic employees who have clearly made the annual charity fund a personal crusade, selected the charities and recruited all of the employees and key vendors to raise the funds.
For most companies who raise money for charity, that would be considered the pinnacle of accomplishment. But for the employees of Classic Pre-Owned, their mission was not yet complete. Explains Danny Bowen, Sales Manager for Classic Pre-Owned, “we all participate in gathering donations for the Employee Charity Fund, but we also try to do even more just within our own Pre-Owned department. So throughout the year, we take some of the money from our wholesaled vehicles and earmarked it for charity. At the end of this year, we had $15,000 in the fund.” The employees presented the money to Susan Durant, wife of owner Tom Durant, to give to the charity of her choice. But Susan Durant had a better idea. “Over the past few years, it's been a sheer pleasure to see how our employees have so fully embraced the spirit of giving back to our local community. Tom and I felt that the money that the Pre-Owned department raised be given to the charity of our employees' choice.” So just three weeks after donating $160,000 to four local charities, the Classic “Continuous Improvement Committee” voted to give the additional $15,000 to 6 Stones Mission Network. 6 Stones is a local nonprofit organization that works with a coalition of churches, nonprofit agencies and other entities to assist in meeting the needs of people in the Hurst, Euless, Bedford community. Remarked 6 Stones Director Scott Sheppard, “Classic Chevrolet has supported us in many ways over the years, but this came as a complete surprise; I was flabbergasted. This incredibly generous donation comes just days before our Night of Wonder Event which makes Christmas possible for over 1200 families.” The Night of Wonder Christmas parties are being held on 19 HEB school campuses December 12-15th, where families receive food to take home for a Christmas dinner, practical items and fun gifts for the children, as well as a very special gift created for the children to give to their parents on Christmas morning. Continued Sheppard, “Classic's incredible donation will make this year's event more special than we even imagined. We have so many people involved including chambers, businesses, churches and the cities themselves. I can't wait to tell them all that Santa showed up at the last minute and his name is Classic Chevrolet.”
Classic Chevrolet, the nation's #1 Volume Chevy dealer for five consecutive years, is known as a company that is focused on achieving goals. Explains Ken Thompson of The Thompson Group at Classic, “we encourage our employees to push themselves to achieve not only our company goals, but their own personal goals as well. Giving back to the community has become incredibly important and fulfilling for the entire organization, so raising a total of $175,000 in just a few weeks is something everyone can be proud of.”