Aug. 19, 2019

This paid piece is sponsored by Luxury Auto Mall.

Neil Maxfield’s kids still talk about the day they went to Walmart and bought groceries for other shoppers.

“It made a huge impression,” said Maxfield, a service manager at Luxury Auto Mall. “They asked again this year how they can help in the community.”

The Maxfield family was participating in one of Luxury Auto Mall’s distinctive traditions: NICE Day, where the team takes a break from the auto business to connect with its community and make a positive difference.

“We’ve done it for about five times, once or more a year depending on demand, and it’s taken us a lot of directions,” general manager Mike Chaplin said. “We’ve done random acts of kindness, like bringing coffee to first responders and treats to the police department or buying groceries for families unexpectedly.”

This year, the Luxury Auto team wanted to take on a project that supported kids. They thought about doing a back-to-school service activity within their business, but when they learned about The Banquet’s need for volunteers to help with its Project SOS school supplies drive, it became a natural fit.

That’s how one-third of Luxury Auto Mall’s staff, plus business partner Ally Financial, came to spend part of a recent day becoming an assembling line for third-grade school supplies.

They filled backpacks with necessities, including folders, crayons, glue sticks and even toothbrushes.

“This is great, I love it,” said Kelli Nordstrom, business development manager, as she slid a notebook in a backpack.

“This helps so many kids in the community. I’ve never experienced this. I’ve had employers where we’ve donated money but not being involved like this.”

It was sales manager and finance director Andy Kvernmo’s second NICE Day. His first involved bringing donations to the Ronald McDonald House.

“This is like a well-oiled machine,” he said, filling backpacks with folders. “It’s really a great chance to give back to the community.”

Setting aside time for service is core to the company’s culture, Chaplin said.

“You can hire people to work, but this ties our people to our greater vision as an employer: to be so effective that we are able to be helpful to others,” he said.

And to help further support The Banquet’s valuable program, Luxury Auto Mall delivered a $5,000 donation in addition to its team’s time.

“We were happy to help donate to cover supplies and their costs of operating,” Chaplin said.

“But this is more important,” he added, gesturing to the team busily filling dozens of backpacks.

“It’s more important to see our people get to put in the time and effort to make something like this successful.”