Our Day at Raytheon - FREE “Green” car care checks for all!

BIG Kudos and thanks to Mike Dorsey, our Dulles location General Manager, Chris Prack, Curry's Technical Director and resident performance Guru, Damon Humenik from our Chantilly store, not forgetting our COO, Scott Coulter and marketing manager extraordinaire Aundy McCarthy!

We hopefully impressed all the 2,000 employees at the Dulles Campus, Raytheon offices. Mike, Chris and Scott did several free, on-site car care checks in the morning. Damon joined us for the afternoon “Lunch and Learn” session in their cafeteria,  where we set up a promo both and discussed with attendees how to keep their car running green and efficient. 

It was also "Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work® Day", so it turned out to be a great family event and featured an amazing selection of big donuts and big pizza.  Damon impressed the kids by handing out Matchbox cars to one and all, no wonder everyone loves him, he always thinks of everything!

We also raffled off an essential roadside assistance kit, a complete “Winner’s Circle” maintenance package and gave out lots of free advice, car tattoos, tire gauges and calendars.


Thank you to all the Curry Team who helped make this a memorable for everyone who attended - YOU GUYS  ROCK!!!!!!!

NFTE Gala Demonstrates Power-PR

The NFTE (Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship) Gala last night was a spectacular example of Power-PR! With 900 people in the audience, NFTE Executive Director Julie Kantor, NFTE volunteers and student entrepreneurs put on a moving show-and-tell of how NFTE works to change the lives of minority and at-risk students by encouraging them to start a business. As the program stated, “The purpose of the Gala is to raise the resources to provide entrepreneurship education to 950+ youth from low-income communities around the Washington, DC, region.” And it was a success: people in the audience pledged more than $600,000 to support NFTE’s goals.

My thanks to Matt and Judy Curry of Curry’s Auto Service, who invited me to attend the gala with them, their children and key members of their staff. Matt was one of eight honorees, recognized as “Home Grown Heroes” at the event.

Courtesy of PR Works

My Best Last Place 5K Finish

I have participated in many running events and always finish in the middle of the pack, but this event was different. First, it was the inaugural DSYS 5k to benefit both DSYS and ALS, hosted by my company, Curry’s Auto Service. My role was to be the “official” roving reporter. My job was to make the course fun and to mix things up a bit. Thus, this is the first event where I came in dead LAST.

I had 10 gift certificates to give to those runners who would pause enough to help me on my fun quest. With my position still under development as the race began, it was decided that I would use a walkie-talkie to update our associate who was at the Curry’s tent and logged into our social media accounts to give real-time updates.

I joined the kids on the fun run that began before the 5k event and was off to see if anyone could name all of Snow White’s seven dwarfs. The first person I asked was a Dad with two girls. No luck – they only knew three. Next up was an eight year old. She looked at me kinda funny when I asked. She said very politely, "I don’t believe I know who this snow white person is." Bummer! I had to ponder this for a bit before I decided to just turn around and go back since I had to conserve my energy for the 5k.

Next up was the 5K. I was able to get South Riding Running Club member, Jeremy to tell an engineering joke. Very well done, but the punch line was delivered just as my breathing became unbearably loud. Before I could even catch my breath and laugh at the same time, off he went to finish at a 6:39 pace. I was able to get the next person to do five jumping jacks. The next person, I believe his name was Drew, was running on behalf of a family member who just succumbed to ALS. I took a moment to be thankful that so many people could come together to support ALS and all the friends and family members that are adversely affected by this disease.

As I continued and ponder the fact that South Riding has no hills (really? I definitely encountered some inclines), I realized that not one person could name all the seven dwarfs. A highlight was the water stop manned by Girl Scout Troop #4884. Wow - I was so happy to see them! As a matter of fact, most of the runners were very vocal in their appreciation! I was hopeful that every flagger and route volunteer heard my shouts of “thanks for volunteering”, “you’re the best”, “thanks for your time… I LOVE YOU!”. I introduced one female runner to the octopus hand shake. Guess you had to be there. Several people said they’d do it again - for many it was their first running event. Some spectators along the course said they’d do it next year since I couldn’t get them to join me. It was an awesome effort for everyone- the fast runners, the joggers, the stroller pushers (that’s for my friend John), the volunteers, the spectators and the walkers. I walked crossed the finish line with a Dad and his awesome daughters. It was my best finish ever. The only thing that I would do differently would be to make sure I do NOT wear a chip. The roving reporter has more important stuff to do on the course than run (fast)!

Coming in last means that you miss a lot of the finish celebration, including the presentation of the big @#! trophy for the first place winners. DSYS and Curry’s has an incredible amount of gratitude for all the volunteers- the South Riding Running Club for packet pick-up and course help, all the race committee chairs, the 40-50 race day volunteers, the Freedom High School Football players, all the race participants (over 300) and their family and friends. Also, for those who came out not to run, but to honor friends and family who have suffered from ALS. This was an overwhelming successful inaugural event which raised about $10,000! We can’t wait until we get to do it again next year. (Mark your calendars for March 17^th 2012, St. Patrick’s Day!)

In the meantime, if you have any thoughts on how we can make next year’s run even better, please shoot me an email: judy@currysauto.com! Watch for updates on the race site: http://www.currys-dsys5k.com/.

Thank you! A new tradition blooms!

Forgive me for not saying this much, much earlier! All of the organizers were overwhelmed by the support and enthusiasm that all the volunteers brought to our first 5k fundraiser. We had great weather, incredible supporters and raised $10,000 with over 300 runners. Not bad for the first year! (yes, next year is already in the works!)

Putting this event together was always a dream that I had- especially since I've been participating in lots of local run events and discovered how fun and addictive they can be! Being involved with DSYS gave me a reason to try to put a fundraiser together. Knowing first hand how expensive it is to participate in athletics, I really wanted to see if there was more that I (and Curry's) could do. I discussed this with some local experts- LJ White (Virginia Run Tri) and Lisa Smith (Founder and past Race Director for Stone Ridge 5k). When I discussed this with Debbie York, President of DSYS, she became excited and suggested that Julie Jasper (Track and Field Commissioner) get involved and tie-in fundraising for ALS. The rest just involves lots of hard work by tons of awesome and incredible volunteers.

There were several Freedom High School Football players who used their brawn to move some of the big stuff- like the world's heaviest helium tank! They were awesome and had such great attitudes for an event early on a Saturday morning. The South Riding Club came out to just help where needed and I was so impressed by their support and willingness to help. They also manned one of the registration/pick-up tables. (check them out). I'll post my first ever run report soon that has more details about the run. We also owe the Curry's Race Team members a spot on our Wall of Fame on our website. This will be coming soon.

Mark your calendars for St. Patrick's Day 2012. Next year's run will be on St. Patrick's Day and will contain green stuff and a pot of gold PLUS a USATF-Certified course! Due to lots of positive feedback, the 2nd annual 5k will be better, bigger, more fun and will have another roving reporter on the course! If you do have any suggestions, we'd love to hear from you! (judy@currysauto.com)

Watch the website for updates and registration! http://www.currys-dsys5k.com/

Cheers!

Got Lead?

Are your wheel weights lead free?

When I realized that lead weights are still being used in our industry, I was shocked to say the least! I spoke to Bob Nightingale, a sales rep from Hennessy that supplies weights to auto repair shops. It seems that the majority of car dealers and auto shops still balance tires with lead weights! These weights can become loose over time and end up on the roadside, in our soil and eventually our streams and waterways. Add up all the cars out there and you can see why this has become an environmental and health issue.

The alternative material, steel, has been used most recently. Steel has only become the replacement of choice recently since they are finally affordable. The manufacturing process for these involved the investment of all new equipment which made the cost prohibitive for several years. Steel wheel weights are slowly and finally becoming a norm in our industry. They also are becoming more sleek with special coatings and options to either clip-on or stick-on.

You might want to check your weights to see if you've got lead. Curry's has been using steel for the last year, so we can help out if you're unsure.

Tire Pros Annual Meeting

Some Curry’s Associates are attending the Tire Pros Annual meeting in Miami, FL and are getting updates on how to better serve our customers with new technical advice on tires and industry trends.

Tire Pros is one of the biggest networks of independent tire dealers and is growing in both membership and services available to customers at the meeting they exclusively announced the upcoming launch of their all new website, which brings with it more intuitive navigation, an interactive tire fitment guide and a host of other exciting features.

For Curry's customers, look out for a Tire Pros exclusive tire deal with Continental tires that coming this May! (Details on this will be on our website and in an upcoming CurryLink newsletter). I’ve been told that it’s really muggy and hot in Miami right now since there have been several thunderstorms that have passed through the area = No sun!

And THIS was spotted on the beach:


Eeeeewwww!

SNEAK PEEK - Curry's gets a new logo!

With a new store on the horizon (look out for the announcement soon on our website) the Curry's team decided it was time for a refresh on the logo, so we got our marketing team to sit down and come up with some ideas that we could all look over and debate... so... here are the early ideas...

Now the whole team agreed the top logo was heading in the right direction, it added the website address which has been something we have been looking to add to the logo for a while now, but everything felt a little crowded. The middle one was a 'no-go' from the first minute, everyone agreed it was too confusing, too many messages in one block, and too much italicising!

So the bottom design was a favourite with the marketing department, bringing the Curry's family crest back into the logo was seen as a positive move, and giving it the feel of an automotive badge felt right.

So the final design, you ask...

We will be unveiling it officially in the next couple of weeks so here are a few little sneak peeks at the design elements we have incorporated:

As you may have imagined the Curry's family crest is staying, we not only feel it reminds our customers that we are a family business, first and foremost, but the Curry Crest has always been used by us as a seal of excellence for all of our services.

You may be able to see a hint of a wing, think Aston Martin, think Mini Cooper and you will be some way to getting the design cues we ended up working from...


This second sneak peek shows you for the first time our new font. Our approach for the whole design was to present an image that embodied both the 'golden age' of customer service and family values tied to a modern forward thinking look and feel. We hopefully succeeded in this by using a modernist font, the inclusion of the URL within the logo and the retro automotive badge imagery.

The official, full version of the logo will be unveiled soon, in the meantime we'd love to get your feedback on the elements we've included, tell us what you think!