McLEAN, Va. (December 21, 2005) - Charitable giving by new car and light truck dealers reached a record level of more than $4.1 million in 2005, according to the National Automobile Dealers Charitable Foundation (NADCF), celebrating its 30th year.

The overwhelming response by America's dealers to help those in need is a testament to the extraordinary generosity of the men and women who make up our industry," said Robert P. Mallon, NADCF chairman. "Dealers have a long and proud history of charitable giving and service that goes far beyond the showroom, and that trend is only growing."

To assist dealership employees affected by the recent hurricanes, NADCF set up an emergency relief fund that has generated contributions totaling more than $3.8 million. They include donations by state dealer associations, individual dealers, the National Automobile Dealers Association and others.  More than $3.5 million have been distributed to date to help over 6,300 dealership employees in the affected Gulf coast region states.

In addition to hurricane relief, NADCF continued to assist communities in a wide variety of ways in 2005, including:

• Providing financial support to educational institutions, emergency medical organizations and institutions involved in economic education through the Foundation's Ambassador's Program. (2005 total: $89,000) (To be recognized as an Ambassador, a dealer, company, association or any individual contributes $10,000 to the Foundation. NADCF then guarantees that a grant of at least $1,000 will be presented to an entity the Ambassador selects every three years forever.)
• Providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training equipment to a wide variety of health, civic and educational organizations (2005 total: 153 manikins, with a value of nearly $120,000);
• Offering scholarships to families of the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks (2005 total: $57,000);
• Giving grants to private/independent colleges and universities to help students with emergency needs and to further the study of ethics (2005 total: $56,000);
• Helping people with disabilities through canine assistance dogs (2005 total: $30,000).