Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The Holiday Helping Hands Program


By Jim Kilchermann
The Journal-Standard
Posted Dec 19, 2009 @ 08:58 PM
Freeport, Ill. —

While some businesses talk about holiday spirit, on Saturday, Dec, 19, 2009, the team at Sawicki Motors led by example. The Holiday Helping Hands Program has been a Sawicki Motors tradition for the past 20 years at the Rochelle dealership. When the Sawicki dealership opened in Freeport in 2003, owner Dan Sawicki brought the holiday tradition to Freeport.

The program offers free service on vehicles for one day every year and is a great success, said dealership owner Dan Sawicki.

"We average about 10 cars each time we do this", Sawicki said.

The vehicles belong to people in the community who are having difficulty affording vehicle maintenance. Repairs performed during the program range from brake jobs and radiator repairs to steering rack replacement and tire service.

Sawicki is proud that every employee at the dealership contributes in some way to the program.
“We do not do this alone, we have help from many of our suppliers and local agencies,” Sawicki said.

The process begins with a referral from a local agency, such as VOICES or Workforce Employment Solutions. Once selected to be serviced, the vehicles are brought to the dealership by their owners. Alber Towing and Recovery has towed non-running vehicles to the dealership in the past. The vehicles are brought into the service bay, and technicians perform diagnostic and visual inspections to assess their needs.

Repairs made by Sawicki mechanics are intended to make the vehicles safe and functional. It is a rare occurrence, but there have been times when a vehicle was simply beyond repair, or repairs would not have made the vehicle reliable for very long. In those instances, Sawicki presented the car’s owner with a more mechanically sound vehicle.

"It wasn’t a new car, but it was better mechanically than the one they had", Sawicki said.

A walk through the service area Saturday morning was met with the sounds of mechanics hard at work on a vast array of vehicles from Toyota compacts to Oldsmobile mini-vans. While vehicles being worked on in a service area is not an uncommon sight, there was an added feeling of good cheer as the mechanics eagerly applied their skills to make life better for those in need.

It is easy to see why Sawicki is proud of his employees.

Used Cars from Sawicki Motors
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