Comment of the Month

“I’d like to thank the counter staff who gave me an article to read about buying a used car and advice on how to start looking.”  -Paula W.

Glad to do it, Paula.  We write a lot of articles on issues that come up among our clients, and we’re constantly asked for car buying advice.  The article you mentioned is available here, and our most popular advice articles are gathered together in our Information Archive.  Hope it’s useful!

Referral Reward program-  $200 Quarterly Award

Our Referral Reward program is designed to say “thank you” for your generous referrals of new clients without actually bribing you with things like oil changes.  It continues to be a very popular program, donating $8686 to 134 groups since the program started! Here are the 11 groups that benefitted in August…

Artichoke Music by Jack K.          Children’s Cancer Association by Chris F.

Dress for Success by Lisa D.          Gifford Pinchot Task Force by Pam H.

Guide Dogs for the Blind by Randy T.          Oregon Humane Society by David H.

Oregon Food Bank by John L., Manuel R., AJ O., and Steve P.

Red Cross by Kevin T          Restore Oregon by Mike T.

Share Vancouver by Terry T.          Union Gospel Mission by Mark E.

But these individual donations are only part of the program… each group is also eligible for quarterly and yearly awards as well.  Medical Teams International was the recipient of this year’s first $200 quarterly award, and September brings our second for 2015.  As always we faced an agonizing choice.  Here were the groups we had to choose between for this quarter…

American Red Cross          Families and Communities Together     Oregon Humane Society          American Heart Association

Center for Appropriate Transport          Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation          Randall Children’s Hospital

Oregon Food Bank          Mercy Corps          KBOO Radio          Oregon Humane Society          Bicycle Transportation Alliance

Community Music Center          It Gets Better Project          SOLV     Portland Animal Welfare Team          Catholic Charities

Growing Gardens          KMHD Radio          Raphael House          Tualitin Valley Workshop

Oregon League of Conservation Voters          Cleveland High School          Amnesty International          Portland Waldorf School

American Civil Liberties Union          Natural Resources Defense Council          Bernie Sanders 2016          Doernbecher Foundation

Randall Children’s Hospital          St. Andrew Nativity School

But we had to choose just one of these worthy groups, so the recipient of this quarter’s $200 award is…

Randall Children’s Hospital

(From the Randall Children’s Hospital Website)

Every aspect of Randall Children’s Hospital has been carefully created to promote maximum care, healing and comfort for our young patients and their families. Thanks to the generosity of thousands of donors giving gifts of every amount, our legacy of healthy kids grows stronger.

 Serving children from its new state-of-the-art home since 2012, Randall Children’s Hospital offers the most modern approach to children’s health care – blending the finest in medical services with family-friendly spaces and patient care procedures designed to reduce stress on patients and their families. With specialists in virtually every field of children’s medicine – heart, cancer, neurology, orthopedics, neonatal and pediatric intensive care, rehabilitation and more–  Randall Children’s Hospital is a regional leader in the care of babies, children and teens.

The generosity of those who donate to Legacy Health makes a sustainable difference in our community and allows Legacy to remain a national health care leader. Your gift creates a lasting impact that saves lives, advances health care and creates educational opportunities for clinicians and the communities we serve.

In 1909, Legacy Emanuel Hospital was founded by citizens dedicated to the delivery of compassionate health care to all. The founding spirit is alive today through the generosity of 1909 Society donors, who enable this legacy of community care to continue. Membership in the 1909 Society is given to individuals with annual cumulative contributions of $1,000 or more to Randall Children’s Hospital Foundation or Emanuel Medical Center Foundation.

To learn more about donor-funded projects and needs, please contact Kathy Lynch Hostetler, executive director of Randall Children’s Hospital Foundation, at 503-276-9496 or mnrose@lhs.org.

Congratulations Randall Children’s Hospital!  Your $200 check is on the way, and we wish you continued success in your valuable work!

Referral Reward program- Bernie Bounces

We give to any non-profit group our clients choose, but we ran into a bit of a roadblock with one donation because of a refreshing bit of integrity.  Darin M. wanted to donate to the Bernie Sanders campaign, so we gladly wrote a check.  A couple weeks later, though, we received a letter from the campaign along with our uncashed donation.  Why on earth would a politician return money?  Because “The Federal Elections Campaign Finance Act prohibits reimbursed contributions or contributions “in the name of another”.

We got around this by getting one of our guys to write a personal check and reimbursing him, so Darin’s donation was made as he wanted.  But we thought it was an educational little story about how election law works, and about how not all politicians are the same.

Your reviews and referrals matter

We are constantly grateful for the supportive and loyal clients we have developed over the years.  Your comments and appreciation keep us on the right road to providing the superior automotive service you deserve.  Your reviews and referrals are not only the highest compliments we can receive, but they’re the lifeblood of our new business.  If you like what you’ve found at Tom Dwyer Automotive Services, please tell a friend or take a minute to write a review on Yelp, Angieslist, Google, or the review site of your choice. Thank you!

Latest Automotive Recalls 

Automobiles are just like any other product; occasional flaws in manufacture or design can cause problems once they leave the factory.  When an issue is identified the manufacturers and government work hard to bring the vehicles back in for refit or repair, but not all recalls make the front pages.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration maintains a constantly updated list of recalls from every manufacturer.  The last month’s recalls are below, but clicking the button at right will take you to the full list at the NHTSA website.