Like a Family

Every day, used car physical inventory manager Haywood Williams, does something nice for Sandy Valenti, our receptionist/operator: he valets and parks her car. He does this out of the kindness in his heart and asks for nothing in return. That alone says something about the team we have here at Earl Stewart Toyota.

Something happened this week that really showed that we are more than a team; we are a family.

When parking Sandy’s car, Haywood had a minor accident that resulted in about $1200 in damage. Haywood insisted on paying for the damage despite Sandy’s objections and despite the hardship this would put him through.

Spontaneously, without discussion, the employees of Earl Stewart Toyota came to the rescue. To get the cost of the body repair down, two body shop technicians – Reggie Clem and Mark Masiarczyk – offered to donate their time. Separately, an anonymous employee then donated $390 towards the repair. Without knowing anything about either of these acts of generosity, sales associate Dewey Ball donated $50 and sent an email asking others to help. Within minutes, fleet sales manager Paul Garra contributed $100. Sales associate Jack Bankson chipped in $20. Sales manager Terry Chapin kicked in $50 and Marcy Holder gave $20.

Haywood was amazed when he read the email chain that detailed these acts of kindness as was everyone else who saw this unfold on their computer monitors Wednesday morning. In all, enough money was donated in a span of time less than an hour to cover the entire cost of the body repair to Sandy’s car.

It is unusual to see outward demonstrations of love and caring in any place of business. It is more unusual to see something like this in a car dealership. For these reasons this story is worth noting. It is an example of what makes us unique…a great place to work.