“Every three months or so for the past year (this being our third time), we have done free oil changes in association with Lifepoint Church in Fredericksburg. The church has several locations: Fred, Culpeper, Stafford, Spotsylvania, Richmond, and an online audience with about 110,000 people viewing weekly (7k or so in person). Sheehy of Richmond has allowed me and Donny Durham from Sheehy Municipal to borrow the mobile service van to facilitate this project each time. We use the van for tools and to actually get the work done. The church buys all the oil, filters, etc., from Advanced Auto, who has been kind enough to allow us to do the oil changes in their parking lots (within range of the homeless/in-need folks). We did 13 free oil changes in partnership with Moments of Hope this weekend, as part of the church Paint the Town Red project. They are a local food bank for homeless and food-challenged families here in the Richmond area. While we changed the oil, the young ladies in the photos prayed with the people, gave them snacks and drinks, and ministered to their needs. Meanwhile, the rest of us took care of changing oil and getting things done. If you watch the sermon from 7/14, the oil change project was mentioned on the live broadcast. Obviously, from the church’s perspective, we are doing this for Jesus; however, every person we helped got to see the Sheehy van front and center. It was really great to make a difference in the community.
They shared one of the many stories that came out of the event on the live broadcast. One of the employees at Advanced, who had lost her husband and shortly after suffered a heart attack, was in need. We changed her oil for her as well, leaving her near tears at the generosity and heart of the church. The prayer team prayed with her and heard her story. Finally, she knew she was seen, and not alone in her struggles. It was a really heartwarming event, and Sheehy was a big part of it each time. The van allowed us to be sure we had all the tools we needed to make this happen. So not only did Sheehy contribute with the van, but two of us who go to that church participated in the event. We have grown this bit by bit each time, starting with just 8 oil changes the first event, 10 the second, and 13 this time. The following day, that very same church set out with a goal of 147,000 pounds of food to donate to local food banks. While I do not yet know the final number of food donations, I do know when I went to the grocery store it was packed with red shirts buying food. This is a great organization for Sheehy to be involved with as it has churches spanning a majority of our main market area, from Stafford to Richmond! So thank you to Sheehy from all of us for allowing us to use the van! Shout out to Marc Henry (he is our mobile tech) for cleaning the van and making sure all the tools were in order, rags and anything else we may need was available and it was ready to go for the event, as well as Chad, our Service Director, for allowing us to use it! All in all, the impact was huge, and we could not do this event without the help of the church, Donny, Marc, and Chad.”
— Stephen Whitman, Sheehy Ford Lincoln of Richmond, Service Advisor
