North Huntingdon auto dealership spreads Christmas joy with boxes of food

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North Huntingdon auto dealership spreads Christmas joy with boxes of food

Joe Napsha | Tuesday, December 22, 2020 6:29 p.m.

Shane Dunlap | Tribune-Review

Carley Painter, marketing director with Kenny Ross Automotive Group, opens a door while her co-worker Rae Ann Morris, director of used car sales, loads a box of food items into a resident’s car Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020 at the location of a new Kenny Ross used car lot on Route 30 in North Huntingdon. The automotive dealership organized 100 boxes of meat and non-perishable food items to donate to needy families for the holidays, including a quarter ham and mashed potatoes, to make a Christmas dinner.

Like millions of other Americans, it’s been a terrible year for Michelle Davis of Monroeville.

She lost her job months ago as a food delivery person for InstaCart when the economy plunged and covid spread across the region. Her father died last week in New York of a non-covid-related illness, but they still could not see him in the hospital because of the covid pandemic. Her uncle died on Saturday, also from a non-covid cause.

So being able to pick up a box of food from the Kenny Ross Automotive Group of North Huntingdon to make a Christmas meal for her family was a bright spot near the end of what otherwise has been a dismal year. It included a ham, canned vegetables and all the fixings.

“This is very generous of them,” Davis said as a dealership employee put a box of food in her car.

The automotive group had prepared 100 boxes of food for those in need to be distributed from the auto group’s used car lot along Route 30 in North Huntingdon.

The demand was strong enough that there was a line of about 10 vehicles at the car dealership at least 40 minutes before they planned to distribute the food, said Rae Ann Morris, director of the used car lot.

The idea for the food distribution evolved out of a discussion that Carley Painter, marketing director for Kenny Ross, had with Morris about advertising the used car sales.

“I mentioned to her (Painter) how about if we give back to the community with a food Christmas gift,” Morris said.

So instead of buying advertising to publicize the used car lot, “it seemed like a logical pitch, especially with the service industry being shut down. There’s now a need more than ever before, for just wholesome food, Painter said.

That line of vehicles waiting for a free box of food makes a person realize there is such a need for this assistance, Painter said.

For those in need, the simple box they received on Wednesday afternoon will provide a meal for a family of four.

“We take that for granted,” said Nancy DelSignore, controller for Kenny Ross Automotive Group.

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