Canadian car dealers from coast to coast continue to give generously of their time and resources to support worthy causes, and to build stronger communities. It’s time we recognized a few more of them.
Canada’s car dealers are among the first to step up to give back to those in need in their communities — as they have been doing for generations.
Nearly all dealerships, however, are making the effort to include their staff in these important causes.
Some volunteer and donate what they can, while others allot a certain budget to annual events and charities. Nearly all dealerships, however, are making the effort to include their staff in these important causes, sharing the philosophy that has trickled down from the original store owner generations ago.
Here’s an overview at what just a few dealers across the country have been doing to help their communities this year. This snapshot is by no means representative of all regions and all dealers, but provides a glimpse into what happens across Canada.
British Columbia
On the west coast, Colin Case, General Manager of Westwood Honda, says giving back to the community is a founding principle of the dealership, something that has been instilled in the staff and is considered part of being a good corporate citizen.
In an interview with Canadian auto dealer, Case said (as a Honda dealer) “we’ve always had a belief that we want to be a company that our community wants to exist. There are many pillars to this, but the charitable works are a key component.”
Among the many charities the dealership aligns with, Case says their local Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation and SHARE Family & Community Services Society are the “big two” that are close to his heart.
Otherwise known as SHARE Society, this charity runs the local food bank and provides a variety of services to the community, says Case. This includes support for new immigrants, drug prevention, family counselling, early intervention therapy for children with developmental disabilities and more.
“Now that we’re in our third generation and despite a significant increase in the size of business, the belief remains one of our core principles.”
As for the Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation, Case highlights the importance of ensuring it has the necessary equipment to treat people in the community. He says this need comes as a result of the country’s underfunded healthcare system, a dramatic increase in the community’s population over the last 20 years, and because the charity was important to their Dealer Principal Jim Irwin, who passed away in 2017.
The need to give back began with the Irwin family and its founder, Dick Irwin. His beliefs were instilled in the company from the beginning, says Case. “Now that we’re in our third generation and despite a significant increase in the size of business, the belief remains one of our core principles.”
Ontario
In Ontario, Star Motors of Ottawa, a Mercedes-Benz dealership, is another prime example of how dealerships give back to those in need.
Owned by Jeff Mierins, the dealership has been described as the oldest single family-owned Mercedes-Benz store in Canada.
The philosophy of giving back to the community began with Mierins’ grandfather, and was then passed down to his father and then to Mierins himself. That philosophy also trickled down to people associated with the store itself — such as Yves Laberge, Mercedes-Benz, smart, Sprinter and Certified Pre-Owned, Star Motors of Ottawa.
This year the dealership supported the 2018 CIBC Run for the Cure (of the Canadian Cancer Society), and has been working with the association for the last three years, says Laberge.
“In total we raised over $600,000 and donations were still coming in after race day, but Star Motors had its own contributions to the charity,” says Laberge. “We had a team of nineteen employees that took part in the race. We all completed the race and we were all proud of our time.”
The dealership also supported a charity that is particularly close to the heart for Laberge: Movember. This annual event seeks to raise awareness about men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer. Both Laberge’s father and uncle suffered from prostate cancer, although today they are alive and well thanks to today’s treatments.
In the past, he says, those in need of a certain type of surgery would be forced to travel to the U.S. to receive special treatments using robotics. “Now, based on some fundraising that’s happened in Ottawa specifically, that technology has been available for about a year here,” says Laberge.
For Lina Caruso, Executive Assistant, Star Motors of Ottawa, the fact that the dealership also donates to the Mental Health Gala in Ottawa is of particular importance to her.
“A lot of people suffer from that illness in silence and it’s great that there are organizations that are bringing that to light,” says Caruso. “When you see the personal stories that people are suffering from and you’re taking the success you have in business and giving back to the community — it’s a very good feeling.”
Both Caruso and Laberge mentioned the Mierins are very “community- and family-minded” people. This, they say, is the reason their dealership continues to have such a “big presence” within their community.
Quebec
In Quebec, Julie Fortier, General Manager and Co-owner of Capital Nissan, learned the importance of helping her community from her father: Jean Fortier, President and Co-owner of the dealership.
“At Nissan Capital, it’s a matter of pride to give back to our community and I want to transfer this pride to all the members of our dealership,” says Fortier. “We base our selection criteria on causes that are important to us in our community and in our respective territories.”
“Sometimes,” she adds, “we encourage causes that our employees care about.” Fortier says the dealership does not have a set annual budget, as some years allow them to contribute more than others.
One cause that is important to Fortier is the Loisirs Lebourgneuf: a non-profit organization whose mission is to organize socio-cultural, sports and community activities in the Lebourgneuf neighbourhood — located around the dealership’s immediate area.
“It’s about the well-being of the community and the harmonious development of individuals intellectually, socially and emotionally,” says Fortier. “It (the organization) wants to create a healthy environment conducive to vitality through community recreation, popular education and community action.”
She adds that Capital Nissan not only offers financial aid — they also participate in the activities: distributing hot chocolate, providing volunteers and runners in the LeboDéfi race with bottles of water, and more.
The dealership also donated 50 bike helmets to children in the Vanier area this year, which is something that Fortier considers to be very important as she advocates physical activity for a healthy lifestyle.
“By donating these helmets, I want to promote physical activity but also raise awareness about the importance of playing sports safely,” says Fortier. “Giving back to these children is rewarding because the company can help them discover new things and arouse their passions (about sports).”
Newfoundland
In the Newfoundland region, Bert and Jonathan Hickman of the Hickman Automotive Group learned the importance of giving back from their great-grandfather’s example. He originally started the business in 1905, and was involved in countless charitable events over the years.
“That’s just been part of our growing up and what we feel our social responsibility is,” says Bert Hickman. “It has continued from our great-grandfather to our grandfather to our father, and currently now here we are.”
The brothers recognize that there are many families in the community that are not well off, and there are many causes that governments, provincially and federally, cannot support. For Bert and Jonathan, it’s about doing the right thing and helping out where they can. And that means ensuring their staff gets involved too.
Not surprisingly, the Hickman brothers also happen to have both been named as CADA Laureates, the highest honour a Canadian car dealer can receive.
Some employees present their own ideas of charitable events to get involved in, while at other times the brothers will ask their staff if they would like to volunteer for a specific cause. An employee at their Nissan store in Clarenville, N.L., took it upon herself to start supplying backpacks to children in her community, because they were either going to school without backpacks or the ones they had were old and torn.
“She took an initiative to go out and start getting supplies for kids to go back to school. Then she asked us for some help,” said Bert Hickman. That was three years ago, he adds. “Before school starts we come up with backpacks for kids. We base it out of all our stores and anybody that test drives a car — we’ll buy a backpack for a child and we’ll load them up in a car.”
“It’s your social responsibility as a business person in your community”
The backpacks are then brought to the local community, which supports places for underprivileged-families, and are distributed to children in need of these bags.
Education is very important to the brothers. Bert says their father started offering employees a scholarship for their children — the ones that were heading to post-secondary school. The scholarship fund had a budget of $4,000 annually. Bert and Jonathan continued the tradition, but they decided to increase the budget to $10,000 and offer $1,000 to each of a maximum of 10 applicants. On average, the dealership receives between six and eight applications a year.
The brothers are also involved in the Dialysis Dash (of the Health Care Foundation), and donated $10,000 this year to support soccer fields that had to be refurbished. They also donate to The Transplant Trot (Canadian Transplant Association) to help promote transplant awareness and encourage people to sign their donor cards. “Three-and-a-half years ago now I received a kidney transplant from my sister, Kim,” said Jonathan. “(Being an) organ donor, bringing more awareness to the importance of signing your organ donor card … that’s a very dear one to me,” says Jonathan.
Hickman Automotive Group also gives back to the Community Food Sharing Association, donating $25,000 every year to help build a new playground for children.
“It’s your social responsibility as a business person in your community,” says Bert. “And don’t forget the people that you’re supporting are your customers and they’re also your employees.”
Nova Scotia
In the Maritimes, the MacPhees are a well known automotive family. Canadian auto dealer interviewed Andrew MacPhee, General Manager of MacPhee Ford, to discuss why he feels it’s important for dealers to include their employees in charitable events — and how they can do this effectively.
“People are very focused on what they choose to support, and we have discovered over the past six or seven years that if a charity is picked by management or picked by the owner, it is actually more difficult (to include your employees)”, says MacPhee. “This is because employees have very personal relationships with the charities they choose to support.”
For MacPhee, there appears to be more support towards participating in or providing donations to charitable causes when he asks the employee about it. “We think it’s important to let the employees choose, so we give them time — we provide time away from the dealership if they’re supporting (a charity), without detriment to their pay,” says MacPhee.
The MacPhee family supports numerous charitable causes every year, including fundraising for The Dartmouth General Hospital, donations to MacPhee Centre For Creative Learning (a school for underprivileged children), the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada (in Halifax), the Canadian Cancer Society, local church groups, minor sports groups, golf tournaments and more.
“We try to support as many people as we can,” says MacPhee.
