Dealers like Mike Carmichael provide more than just transportation to their communities
From coast-to-coast, Canada’s auto dealers do an incredible job supporting their communities. Much of that work, however, goes largely unnoticed by the general public and local media. In this article, we meet some dealers and their staff who are making a big difference in their communities.
“We’re not doing this to sell more cars, nor receive accolades,” says Mike Carmichael, of Scarborough, Ont.-based City Buick Cadillac Chevrolet GMC. “We’re doing it because we want to be involved.”
Mike Carmichael, dealer principal at City Buick Cadillac in Toronto actively encourages staff members to take part in community initiatives and donates his own time to serve in such programs. Katey Whitmee, City’s lease/finance portfolio manager, is also the principal architect behind the dealership’s community service programs.
Sitting across from the energetic dealer principal of one of Canada’s best known General Motors stores, when he describes giving back to the community, his passion is infectious.
Building on the legacy established by his grandfather Jack and continued by father John, Mike has been around the dealership environment since he was a kid in the late-1970s. Yet far from being one to follow in the practice of “how things were always done,” he has taken a very different approach to auto retailing.
When the recession of 2008-09 hit, the future at City, like that of many dealerships looked uncertain. Mike, who was general manager at the time, had an equity stake in the store and put in an offer to buy out his father, who now serves as a Member of Parliament for Don Valley West. “It was a time of tremendous change,” says Carmichael, “we didn’t know what was going to happen when General Motors went through bankruptcy.”
Nevertheless, as GM emerged as a new, restructured company, so did City, with a new look and a fresh attitude, not only to serve its customers in the best manner possible but also to establish the store as a truly inspiring place to work.
A key initiative for Carmichael, was to provide concepts that challenged the very idea of what a dealership was all about, such as providing staff with three full paid days a year to serve good causes. “We all serve in one way or another,” he says.
HANDS ON APPROACH
While it would be easy to simply donate funds to various charities, Carmichael believes that taking a hands-on approach to community service is how you truly enrich the lives of others. He encourages staff members to push forward their own ideas. “I have to credit Katey Whitmee,” he says, “she has really grabbed the bull by the horns.”
Whitmee, who serves as City’s Leasing and Financing Portfolio manager, has been the principal motivator behind the dealership’s growing number of community service programs. “I really do enjoy helping people,” she says with a genuine smile and happiness in her voice as we walk through City’s renovated showrooms.
“Back in 2010,” she explains, “Mike and I sat down and looked at what we could do for the community, not only at Christmas time, when most consider charity giving but year around. From there we put together a plan that has now grown to support nine organizations within the Greater Toronto Area and has 155 City employees involved.”
Some of the programs include working with the Yonge Street and Scott Missions, the Evergreen Youth and Birkdale Community Centres, as well as the YWCA and Canadian Cancer Society.
“Since we started, we’ve committed over 523 hours to community programs,” Whitmee says. However, she, Mike and the staff at City acknowledge the challenges facing such programs, especially considering the size of the dealership and the labour resources available. “It’s tough to sometimes orchestrate these events because we’re such a large organization,” she says. “We need to make sure that the business can still run strong while we’re out and involved with these community service programs, so it takes time to plan and orchestrate them.”
Among the initiatives City conducts, include a meals on wheels service in which two employees at a time, volunteer their services and are provided with a car from the dealership, to deliver much needed food supplies to various locations throughout the GTA. “We collect the food, are given a map and off we go,” she says. One of Whitmee’s favourite programs is working with the Scott Mission, preparing meals and providing clean up once they’ve been served to those in need. “When you’re out there doing these events, it’s often only then that you realize how many people depend on these meals. It’s just so important and in many ways a humbling experience,” she says.
Bill Johnson (far right) and his staff at Wood Motors Ford see giving back as part of their civic responsibility.
A FULL ROSTER
In Fredericton, New Brunswick, the staff at Wood Motors Ford, have also taken a very active role in the local community. Dealer principal Bill Johnson says that it’s just the right thing to do. “Often, we don’t realize how lucky we are,” he says. “That’s why it’s so important for us to get involved and do our best to enrich the lives of others.”
Initiatives developed through Wood Motors include sponsoring the University of New Brunswick’s Varsity Reds sports teams and fostering an alliance with the Central Regional Tennis Association.
With the latter, Wood Motors has helped finance construction of a state-of-the-art facility, which includes six indoor courts and will serve as a training centre, not just for the Fredericton area and the Maritimes but also as a venue for national events. “It cost $2.5 million to build,” says Johnson “and Wood Motors came onboard as the first corporate sponsor.”
At the time of this writing, the facility had just opened to the public and Wood Motors is in the process of putting together a range of children oriented sports programs, an initiative which it has signed on to cover for the next three years.
Besides this, the dealership is actively involved with the local Rotary club and as a Rotarian himself, Johnson has seen firsthand, the difference taking an active role can make.
One of the principal programs is Fredericton’s annual Pond Hockey tournament, which takes place each February. “It lasts for three days and consists of approximately 100 teams with four to five members in each. We have a league for kids, for seniors, a female specific one and an open division.”
Wood Motors even supplies the Zamboni to maintain the ice, while all the money raised through the event goes to support community projects. “Being actively involved with this tournament means we have full control over where the funds go,” says Johnson. “The Rotary always emphasizes sustainable projects, one of which is organizing a camp for disabled children. It is expensive to organize these events, to send and provide for the kids and also the service of staff and counsellors but it’s absolutely worth it,” he says, “they deserve this chance and we’re glad we’re able to help out.”
Back in Scarborough, Mike Carmichael says that in order to provide support to the community outside the four walls of City Buick, also requires support from within. “The Community Service days are part of a bigger strategy of interaction and internal development. People talk about the need for greater communication but they miss the essential truth. More time on the BlackBerry isn’t going to help things, you need to go downstairs and talk to your team, one on one. Problems shared are problems halved and if you can provide that moral support for your staff through initiatives like this, amazing things can happen.”
Carmichael says that group sessions are actively encouraged at City and on the subject of community service programs, virtually no idea is off limits. “We’ll always consider it,” he says. “One of our team members was really passionate about helping his kid’s hockey team, so we got some of our staff together and helped the team organize a school trip. When you support and take care of your staff, they will take care of you. It’s important to understand that we are all in this together.”
GROUP SUPPORT
Speaking of together, since taking the reins at City Buick, Carmichael has also partnered up with the Humberview Group, which itself is also actively involved with a number of giving back programs.
The Stewart Esplen foundation, named after Humberview’s founder and patriarch provides straight donations to charities, while initiatives with the Sears Great Canadian Run see the group actively raise money for SickKids’ Hospital’s Pediatric program, via donations and also active participation from the group’s dealer members.
“We sponsor about half the total amount of our donation and then raise the rest by running in the event,” says Don Francis, vice president, People and Organizational Development for the group. “This year we’ve also put together the Humberview Group Ride with cyclist Steve Bauer and team Spider Tech.”
An 85 km bike ride through Peel, Halton Hills and Milton, the Group Ride will have already taken place by the time you read this, though if past charity programs are any indication it’s likely this one will prove just as much a success.
Getting back to City Buick, Mike Carmichael and Katey Whitmee are already planning events for the upcoming holiday season. “There’s so much to do,” says Whitmee. “But when you’re at the mission, when it finally all comes together and you’re serving food and somebody says thank you, you cannot beat it. Last holiday season a gentleman at the Scott Mission came up to me, smiled and said how much he really appreciated our help. It was best gift I could have wished for.”
