A few weeks ago I joined the neighborhood Facebook page for the area that our shop is in. I am a member of the neighborhood page for where we live, but I thought it might be a good idea to join the page for where our shop is located. I am so glad I did. The first time I posted it was concerning a homeless young man, and I was reaching out to the community to see if anyone knew him, or was missing him. The response was unbelievable. Everyone wanted to help, a very nice lady even stopped by and dropped off a backpack full of clothing, food, water and other supplies. I was overwhelmed. The next time I posted, it was because we had customers that were way overdue to pick up their vehicle. They are elderly, had gone on a vacation, and had told us the date they would pick it up. Well that day came and went, we called and texted numerous times, with no response. So I posted asking if anyone knew them, and if so were they alright? Again the response was overwhelming. One gal even called the shop and suggested I call the non emergency police number and have them do a wellness check. Which I did, the police contacted them, and thankfully they were okay, and had just gotten home. Seems they had just extended their vacation by a few days.
Yesterday a lady posted that she needed help with her van, as it wouldn’t start. She was a single mom of two boys, one with special needs, and a very limited budget. I responded to her letting her know that if she could wait a day, we could have the vehicle towed to our shop and see what is going on with it. She was so very thankful, I was happy that we could help. Not more than 5 min later I get a message from a long time customer that is also on that page, saying he wants to be her Secret Santa…I was overwhelmed, as this gentleman had just lost his wife to cancer a week ago. I messaged him back telling him, that I was crying, and that with everything he had just gone through, this was over the top. He said it made him happy to be able to help, he wanted to be her Secret Santa. I had spoken with her on the phone, and I could tell by her voice that she was stressed out about the money, being on disability her income is quite low. So I posted that she didn’t have to worry about anything at all, as she had a Secret Santa, her bill was covered. The response was out of this world. The posts from strangers, thanking me and the Secret Santa, were overwhelming to say the least. I was in tears for most of the day. I told her that I was so glad that she had the courage to ask for the help she needed, and that by doing so, it had touched so many lives, and had made so many people feel good (over 100 views). I was so glad that we were in a position to help her, so happy for her Secret Santa, that he gets to do something to make himself happy. The comments for the people in the community were amazing.
In doing these three posts it also let people see that even though we don’t live here, we do care about the people that do. It gave them insight to who we are and how we do business. We had a new customer today, because of these posts. Although business was the last thing on my mind when I made these posts, as one person posted “I will be bringing our vehicles to Long’s from now on, what goes around comes around”. I will continue to be active and show that we truly care, in doing so we will build trust, and relationships with the people that are in this community, which in turn will help our business grow from the heart, which is how it should be. I am so very grateful to be in this position, to help those that need it, and to meet more and more of the kind and compassionate people that live here.
