Team Auto Group of Salisbury collects gifts for Toys for Tots

Team Auto Group of Salisbury collected toys at its annual holiday party Friday, and children across Rowan County will enjoy seeing them under the tree Christmas morning thanks to Rowan County's Toys for Tots program.

Arbe Arbelaez, Toys for Tots coordinator of Rowan County, stopped by our dealership a few weeks ago to talk about the importance of Toys for Tots.

And here's what we collected from our employees...

Arbe and his wife, Ann, work tirelessly for months on filling orders and coordinating fundraisers for Toys for Tots. Everyone here at Team Auto Group thanks them for their hard work and allowing the dealership to be a drop-off location for toys.

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 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.