Holiday Automotive Group -- a full-service, family-owned auto retailer based in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin -- is on a mission to “give where we live.”
The company continually strives to succeed in that core value, and two recent accomplishments are a $2,000 donation to the Fondy Food Pantry and the creation of the Automotive Tech Center at the Children’s Museum of Fond du Lac.
Founded in 1959, Holiday Automotive has a one-street campus on North Rolling Meadows Drive in Fond du Lac, employing about 330 people. Their branches include a Chevrolet-Buick-GM-GMAC and Cadillac center, a Ford dealership, a Mazda dealership and a Budget and Collision Center.
Chris Twohig, director of marketing for Holiday Automotive, told Mega Dealer News, “Holiday has community partners in many charities and organizations in our area. Our founder, Michael Shannon, Sr., set up the Mike Shannon Automotive Foundation to spearhead much of our corporate giving, and our relationship with the Enterprise Holdings Foundation is another way in which we support our community. We use Enterprise rental cars and used cars in our inventory, and through them, we were able to give a $2,000 grant to the Fondy Food Pantry to help increase their direct outreach to children and families.”
The Fondy Food Pantry has been keeping food on the table for needy Fond du Lac residents since 1973. It works with other local organizations and agencies to provide supplemental, healthy food options and education for families who are experiencing financial hardship.
The food pantry serves more than 3,000 Fond du Lac community residents -- adults and children -- in a typical year and provides nutritious, child-friendly groceries for up to 1,000 elementary school students through its ‘Food for Thought’ program. The Fondy Food Pantry partners with local churches, businesses and other community agencies.
According to Twohig, Holiday’s giving-back programs are continual. “Our ongoing core-value charity programs include developing and funding a new exhibit at the Children’s Museum of Fond du Lac. The Automotive Tech Center is a new immersive STEM space where kids can pretend to be automotive professionals working on a kid-size vehicle. Using diagnostic tools, children can determine the needs of the vehicle. They can then check the parts inventory using a touch-screen to find a part and replace it on the vehicle. We hope this will inspire children to pursue careers in auto technology while enforcing our core value to ‘give where we live’,” he told Mega Dealer News.
Principal funding came from the Mike Shannon Automotive Foundation. The Korb Family Foundation and Donna and Dave Whealon were contributing sponsors. Additional in-kind supporters of the exhibit include CD Smith Construction and Twohig Flooring America.
“Holiday Automotive truly embodies the spirit of the Enterprise Holdings Foundation, and we are proud to support the community that Michael (Shannon, Jr.) and the employees of Holiday hold so dear,” Adam Turner, senior account manager at Enterprise Holdings said, according to KFIZ.
The Children’s Museum of Fond du Lac, is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization that supports childhood development, utilizing innovative exhibits and programs that engage children, their caregivers and the community in lifelong learning through play. The museum is open Wednesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
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