I continue to be impressed at the ways Chamber members serve our community. Yesterday I joined other community members at the Cranberry Mall for the second annual Community Car Care Aware hosted by Action Auto Service, Inc. The event included both indoor and outdoor activities.

April is national Car Care Aware month, and the event is held in partnership with the national Car Care Council.

This year Action Auto unveiled their first Extreme Car Makeover project at the event.  A deserving family was selected by a community panel, that included Trenton Moulin of the Allegheny Chapter of the American Red Cross, Dr. Robert DeShong of Tomorrow’s Dentistry Today, and Linda Lusher of Galaxy Federal Credit Union, to have their vehicle fixed at no cost to them.  This year’s recipient was Jen Girty and family.  Girty, a widowed mother of four young daughters, was very appreciative of the work Action Auto did on her 1992 Subaru station wagon.

“Our car was unreliable, and we never knew when or if it would start.  Because of this we had a lot of trouble getting the kids to their appointments.”

Girty’s oldest daughter, Alexis who is 10 years old, wrote in her submission letter that “there were times when our car was broke down for more than a year and the last two years we’ve had it – it has only worked half the time.” The list of items that needed repaired was extensive. The entire vehicle, except the roof, was repainted.

Bill Kapp, owner of Action Auto says, “This was a lot of work to complete in a short amount of time.  My team really worked hard to pull this off in time for the unveiling.”

Additionally Action Auto performed close to 30 car care checks and Venango Safe Kids performed nine child safety seat checks and replaced five faulty car seats, both in the mall’s parking lot.

Kapp says this year’s event was a success and looks forward to next year.

Action Auto Service Inc. was recognized as the 2008 Business of the Year by the Venango Area Chamber of Commerce. Owner Bill Kapp began his first term on the Chamber’s board of Directors in January of 2009.