The commitment of local dealerships to their communities remains unprecedented during the coronavirus pandemic. As the globe endures COVID-19, dealer philanthropic efforts have been a bright spot in how the country is banning together to ride the wave into calmer waters.

Local dealerships have supported their communities in a variety of ways, such as offering the loan of cars and trucks for the delivery of groceries, medical supplies and prescriptions; donating and delivering meals to medical professionals at local hospitals; offering free oil changes and select services to first responders; and sanitizing vehicles for any local resident at no charge.

• In Tennessee, one dealer funded the purchase of three new ventilators for the intensive care unit (ICU) of their local hospital currently treating COVID-19 patients.
   
• A dealer in the state of Washington has established a $10,000 technology fund to help teachers pay for equipment and online tools that they now need to support distance learning.
   
• Rice Toyota in Greensboro, North Carolina is providing access to their Wi-Fi network for families with children for e-learning.
   
• Indiana dealer Bob Butler of Butler Auto Group pledged $100,000 to the Riley Children’s Foundation COVID-19 relief fund.
   
• D.C.-area dealers, through the Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association (WANADA), donated $50,000 to MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.

These are just a few initiatives that America’s franchised new-car and truck dealers are implementing to help the country in the coronavirus environment.

NADA wants to highlight what dealers are doing to support their local communities, including first responders, charitable organizations and families, during this difficult time. Tell us about your experience and your staff, community and store.

Dealerships can share their stories in one of two ways:

1. If TV news, local or national, has covered your community efforts, please send links to those stories to publicaffairs@nada.org.
2. Shoot a video showing NADA how your dealership is helping the community during this uncertain time. Don’t forget to shoot your video horizontally; if you’re using a phone, turn it sideways, like a TV. Make sure to keep the tone personal, like you're chatting with a friend, and stand still in a spot where you are lit from the front. If filming something, count to five before you move the camera.

Generate a link to your video by uploading it to the cloud – iCloud or Google Drive – or posting it on YouTube. Video links should be sent to NADA Director of Video Production Eric Hunsaker at ehunsaker@nada.org. Please don’t send videos as attachments.

Thank you for participating. For more information about NADA’s coronavirus efforts, please visit the NADA Coronavirus Hub.