Tuesday, November 22, 2016

NAPA Grand Opening 11-16-2017


Our group, Cruisin For Heroes, had negotiated with the owners of the new NAPA store on Rt. 17 to provide a classic car display of 7 vehicles on November 16, 2017, a Wednesday.  We were to be eye candy for the customers during the Grand Opening of the new store.  The owners made a substantial donation to The Fisher House Foundation for our services that day.  This is exactly what we do, as our mission statement…. states!  We were to be onsite from 9AM to 2PM with the owners of the vehicles to camp out near their rides so they can answer questions about their particular vehicle. 

We have a list of 60 special vehicles that the owners have committed to support our mission for Fisher House if they are available.  When we have a display negotiated, we chose the volunteers from that list that we think will best meet the needs of each display.  We have enough volunteers to chose from, so that people do not feel pressured to always agree to participate with us….they know we have a big list of volunteers to call on.  I was having a conversation with one of the volunteers, thanking him for coming out and supporting our mission.  He shared with me that he didn’t always have time to make a donation to a charity, so his presence at our events was his way of supporting a charity without sending money.  I had never thought about what we do in those terms but it does make sense.

The day was a little nippy in the morning but the sky was deep blue with white puffy clouds….perfect.  About Noon the owners and some Stafford County officials assembled and made the event official with the ribbon cutting ceremony.  How cool is THAT.  NAPA started cooking hot dogs & BBQ for everyone….and the Princess said they were very good, defiantly up to Princess standards.  The store was drawing names for really cool door prizes but the best thing was the 50% discount on anything in their store!  I bought enough Mobil 1 oil to last me a year for my daily driver, the Princesses Mustang and the farm truck!  Some windshield washer fluid and various other things rounded out my purchases….all at 50% off!!!!

Around 2PM we thanked everyone for coming out and supporting us then we all dispersed.  I usually take the Princess somewhere to eat after an event….but she said the BBQ was real good….I MEAN REAL GOOD.  I didn’t want to question her further about how many sandwiches she had….but she said she was still full and didn’t want to go anywhere for dinner…..yet….

















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