CHARLOTTE, NC — Charlotte, NC-based Meineke Car Care Centers recently donated more than $43,000 to the Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) during the charity’s Annual Broadcast on June 5th and 6th. Now in its 7th year as a CMN sponsor, the Meineke chain has contributed more than $500,000 to Children’s Miracle Network, which supports children’s hospitals across the U.S. and Canada.
On June 5th, while Meineke volunteers staffed the phone bank at the local CMN Broadcast, the company presented a check for $40,000, raised at the 6th Annual Meineke Tournament for Champions golf outing, held in April at Highland Creek Golf Club in Huntersville, NC. Since all funds donated to CMN remain in the local community, proceeds from the tournament will go to the Children’s Hospital at Carolinas Medical Center, and its affiliates in Charlotte.
“Every year, our staff, franchisees, vendors and friends come out to support the tournament,” said Ken Walker, Meineke president and CEO. “It’s a day to put aside business concerns, enjoy each other’s company and experience again how much better it is to give than to receive. Our Meineke family is proud to be affiliated with CMN and thankful to be able to contribute something back to Charlotte, which has been our corporate home for more than 15 years.”
In Baltimore, MD, Meineke donated $3,500 through CMN to the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. The funds were raised at a golf outing at the Meineke Car Care Centers’ 2004 convention in Orlando, Fla. During the outing, a life-size cardboard cut-out of Meineke spokesman George Foreman was placed in a sand trap at one of the holes. The player hitting his shot “Closest to George Foooooore-man,” John Zentz of Hunter Engineering, Inc., won the contest and got to designate the CMN hospital to receive the proceeds from the tournament.
“I’ve participated in the Meineke golf outings for CMN since they started six years ago,” commented Zentz. “A young friend of my family, Grayson Gilbert, was treated successfully for pancreatic cancer at Johns Hopkins, so it was a real treat to be able to direct these proceeds back to the hospital. For once, I didn’t even mind hitting into the sand.”
During the June 6th CMN broadcast on WMAR-TV, Zentz, accompanied by his friend Grayson and Ron Holstein, a long-time Meineke franchisee from Frederick, MD, presented the $3,500 check from Meineke.
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