Rowan County United Way Finale videos

With a goal of $1.6 million dollars, the people of Rowan County really stepped up and gave a lot this year to the United Way! The Rowan County United Way made its goal... and it's not over yet, there are still campaigns finishing up, and some just beginning!

And, the highlight of the night - one lucky Rowan County man - Edwin Martinez - was chosen out of the 12 finalists to win a new car! Martinez works at Freightliner, and was shocked to hear he had won the car. Martinez was one of the last two standing, along with Rowan Public Library employee Joyce Ervin. Ervin's name was called meaning Martinez won the car. Check out the video below. 

Then, the drawing was held to find out which dealership would be giving the car away - Team Auto Group, Ben Mynatt, Cloninger Ford-Toyota and Gerry Wood. Check out the video of the dealership drawing below.

Too bad Team Auto Group wasn't able to give away a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze!

The finale ended with a special performance - members of the Rowan County United Way committee and employees with various United Way organizations sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" on stage. Here's the video.

Congratulations to every finalist, especially to Mr. Martinez. And a huge congrats to the Rowan County United Way and people of Rowan County!

Halloween Team Scream Contest and Fall Festival a success!

Well, the First Annual Halloween TEAM Scream Contest and Fall Festival was Saturday here at Team Auto Group, and we didn't know what to expect since the weather was pretty awful. The rain had stopped that morning, leaving puddles around the lot, and it was freezing. But people came, and were there right at 10 a.m., with the rest of the crew scrambling around to get things ready. But things magically came together, and volunteers kept pouring in throughout the day. 

Twelve people participated in the Scream Contest, and the winner for the girls, Aniya Simmons, 9, practiced Friday night for the contest, she said, and was the first to sign up Saturday morning. She even sacrificed getting to a birthday party on time for the contest... but it was worth it, she said. Her mother, Sheree Forbes, won the women's category. 

Steppin' Out Dance Company also had around 50 girls perform several Halloween dances, and Megan Braun, Junior Elite Miss North Carolina, sang a few songs to warm up the crowd.

The pie throwing brought the most participants, and raised more than $50 alone for the United Way. Rowan County Sheriff Kevin Auten and Salisbury Police Chief Rory Collins were dressed in orange inmate clothing, teasing those throwing the pies. We offered to let them take a walk through our car wash, but they declined. They had a lot of fun, and it was definitely the highlight of Saturday's event. 

The hot dogs were almost completely gone (240 of them), so I'd say we had a pretty good turnout at the festival. 

Bob Pendergrass from Dan Nicholas Park was very busy showing off two snakes, a tarantula and a blue-tongued skink. The Rowan County Sheriff's Office brought a Chevrolet Caprice, and the Salisbury Fire Department brought a fire truck and the smoke house. The petting zoo from Clippity Clop To You brought with them ducks, a mini horse, goats, chickens and rabbits, and Kristina from Face Painting Party Girls didn't get a break from the line of children waiting to have their faces transformed to beautiful butterflies or scary monsters. 99.7 FM The Fox was also there doing a live broadcast from the lot.

A big special thanks go to all of our volunteers:
- Salisbury High School Air Force JROTC
- Rowan County Sheriff's Explorers
- Boy Scouts of Rowan County
- J.F. Hurley YMCA
- Rory Collins and Kevin Auten

Without the volunteers we couldn't have had the event. 

We ended up raising just under $500 for the United Way of Rowan County and hope that next year we can at least double the amount. 

Please visit our Facebook page to look at the pictures - http://www.facebook.com/teamautogroup


Here's a video filled with the performances, scream contest, pie throwing and games at the festival. There are also several photos at the end of the video. Enjoy!

Halloween Scream Contest and Fall Festival

Do you have a great scream that could go up against any Hollywood horror movie starlet? Have you been dying to get back at the police or sheriff's office for an unfair parking ticket? Or are you looking for a family friendly place to spend your Saturday morning and afternoon filled with games for your children? 

Come to Team Auto Group's First-Annual Halloween TEAM Scream Contest and Fall Festival, Saturday, Oct. 29, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. 

What you will see:

- bounce house

- bounce slide

- bowling

- bean bag toss

- pumpkin ring toss

- cake walk

- go fishing game

- hay candy search

- pumpkin painting

- snakes and spiders from Dan Nicholas Park

- Salisbury Fire Department truck and smoke house

- hot dogs and Cheerwine

- Halloween performance from Steppin' Out Dance Company

- face painting

- petting zoo

We will also have a live radio broadcast from the dealership - 99.7 FM the Fox.

Tickets for most of the games will be $0.25. Painting a pumpkin will cost four tickets and the cake walk two tickets.

Throw a pie in the face of Salisbury Police Chief Rory Collins or Rowan County Sheriff Kevin Auten for only $1.

Enter the scream contest for only $1. We will have an adult and child category and will crown a Scream King and Queen from each age group. Winners will receive trophies, a free buffet for a year from Cici's Pizza, and will be able to scream live on the radio.

Volunteers are still needed, so if you'd like to volunteer, please call Shelley Smith, 704-216-8000 ext. 197. 

All proceeds will benefit the United Way of Rowan County.

United Way Day of Caring

On Thursday Medley Warren, Cindy Landry and I (Shelley Smith) participated in the United Way Day of Caring. Our assignment - beautify East Rowan High School's picnic table/break area and the entrance to the football stadium. (If they can't win a game, they can at least have a spruced-up entrance to the stadium, right?) 

It was a beautiful day, and we had a lot of fun. We were joined by employees with the Rowan County tax office and inspections department, who were a lot of fun to work with. It was definitely fun getting to know everyone, and it was great getting out of the office and being outside. 

Cindy and I are pretty sore today, Medley will probably feel it tomorrow. For about five hours we hauled mulch and spread it around a picnic/break area at the high school, and also trimmed bushes around the stadium, spreading mulch in the flower beds. 

It was nice to give back to the community Thursday. And the school really appreciated and showed their love for us. We received a wonderful fruit basket, water and poster thanking us for our work. We also got a few "thank you's" from students walking by - the best reward for our hard work Thursday. 

The United Way does so much for our community, and we were grateful we had the chance to give back. Here are a few photos and a video of everyone working.