D&D Automotive would like to thank all of our customers and the other 9 independent NAPA Auto Care Centers who joined together with us to benefit our local humane society shelter by donating a portion of their sales on October 25th towards this worthy cause. At D&D Automotive, we raised over $300 which contributed to the total amount raised of $2823.33. Dave and other representatives from NAPA Auto Care Centers presented the check to Chris, the director of the Portage County Humane Society, on October 28th at their annual Pet Fest fundraising event held in Stevens Point. The Mechanics for Mutts fundraiser was the idea of Dave’s wife Anna who wanted to “give back to the community.”

Due to the huge success of this event, we are going to make this an annual event and are expanding it to include a possible coloring contest, pet essay contest, “Mechanics and Mutts” look-alike contest, and even a food drive to benefit our local animal shelter. This event will be held again during the entire month of October 2018. We will keep our community page updated with further details on how our customers can support this worthy cause. We’re looking forward to spearheading this fundraiser and holding it for many years to come. Again we extend a HUGE THANK YOU to all who made this such a success this year!

NAPA Knows How to Care – Mechanics for Mutts Raises Money for Local Humane Society

With 85 million pet-owning families in the United States today, it’s obvious this is a nation of animal lovers. And with thousands of pets looking for a forever home, it’s only natural that Dave Harvath and his wife Anna, owners of D&D Automotive Services in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, thought to support the Portage County Humane Society.

“We are always looking for ways to give back to the community and Anna has a soft spot for animals. We knew our local Humane Society’s Pet Fest was coming up in just a few weeks so Anna and I visited the other NAPA AutoCare Centers in our area and invited them to join us in a fundraiser. Altogether, ten AutoCare Centers supported this AutoCare promotion we called Mechanics for Mutts.

Shops Put Facebook to Work for the Cause

“Many of our shops took pictures of their employees posing with their pets and posted them on their Facebook pages. The Humane Society posted our fundraiser on their page as well.”

Check’s Muffler Center, owned by Bill Boyer and Cindy Konkol, was another of the 10 participating AutoCare Centers. Debbie Hirt, a 15-year employee, headed up that shop’s efforts. She worked with Optimize Social Media to create a graphic for the Mechanics for Mutts campaign and then went on to post pictures of the shop’s own mechanics and their mutts—or cats—on Check’s Muffler Center’s page. She said, “Our Facebook posts got nearly 10,000 views and hundreds of likes. It was amazing the amount of interaction we received on social media. People love animals.”

The participating NAPA AutoCare Centers were given the choice to either donate all the proceeds from the oil changes performed on the chosen day for the event, or they could choose to donate a percentage of that day’s sales. Scott Furgason, owner of four NAPA AUTO PARTS stores in Central Wisconsin, contributed by donating the oil filters. In all, the AutoCare Center group raised $2,823.33 and presented the check to Chris Langenfeld, executive director of the Portage County Humane Society at the organization’s October PetFest which was held October 28th.

Dave said the group’s first Mechanics for Mutts fundraiser was a huge success. “It was a way for our shops to give back to the community and differentiate ourselves from the competition,” he said. “People, and millenials in particular, are interested in a business’s outreach efforts. It strikes a chord with them.”

Hirt added, “I believe the Mechanics for Mutts fundraiser has absolutely helped our business. When people liked our post on the Portage County Humane Society page, it brought more even people to our site. And we have been noticing many new faces walking into our shop. Mechanics for Mutts definitely helped to get our name out there to a wider audience.”