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Action » Hands Automotive, Inc.
Faith-Based Organization Opens First of Its Kind Auto Center
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Dan Georgopulos
August 30, 2010 303-526-4488
Faith Based Organization set to Open First-of-its-Kind Automobile Service Center
LAKEWOOD, COLO. – Hands Automotive, Inc., doing business as Colorado Auto-Tech, will open a first-of-its-kind automotive repair and maintenance center in Lakewood, Colo. on Sept. 1, 2010.
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The service center, located at 1510 Kendall St. (Colfax & Kendall), will provide a full range of automotive repair and maintenance services to the public. Staffed by certified mechanics, the public shop will operate Monday – Friday, 7:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Proceeds from Colorado Auto-Tech will go to help support the organization’s not-for-profit auto services for single mothers and widows in need, a service it has been providing since 2004 to help their clients get children to school, maintain a job and keep medical appointments.
The birth of the auto repair shop was driven by two distinct challenges in the organization’s not-for-profit automobile repair program. First, the organization was facing rising costs associated with using outside automobile repair shops to provide the needed services. Second, the increasing needs of the organization’s clients who, in most cases, cannot afford their own repairs as most live at or below the poverty level. In response to these challenges, Hands Founder and President Dan Georgopulos and his Board of Directors developed a business plan to operate their own repair shop in a social enterprise model.
“For the past six years, we’ve been working with an outstanding group of automotive partners and parts suppliers to provide the highest quality care for women throughout our community who so desperately need our help,” said Georgopulos. “Now we have the opportunity to take that same honest, quality care and service to the public in a cause-related effort whose financial model will allow us to support the growing needs of single mothers and widows in our community and region.”
The organization, which provides an average of 250 automobile repairs or services to more than 150 families or elderly widows per year, anticipates increased revenue from the for-profit Colorado Auto Tech business to help expand its reach and service offerings to it not-for-profit operations.
In addition to the auto repair services, the shop will provide Car Care Clinics designed to help customers of the shop and clients of Hands of The Carpenter maintain vehicles and avoid costly future repairs. The clinics also offer basic auto maintenance education and hands-on experience in performing their own maintenance when possible.
Founded in 2003 by Georgopulos and his wife Brenda, Hands of the Carpenter initially focused its efforts on providing home repairs to allow single women and widows with the opportunity to live in a safe environment with their children and reside independently. The work quickly revealed that the original plan to provide automobile repair needed to happen sooner rather than later, as the majority of single parents and widows did not own their own home but rented instead. Most single parents and widows did however, own an automobile. Due to limited financial means, the vehicles could not be maintained; the safety and longevity of the vehicle was compromised; needed repairs were not being made.
Hands Automotive, DBA Colorado Auto Tech, is supported by industry experts with more than 100 years of experience including, Randy Pickering of Pickering Automotive; Rob Liley of the Phil Long Automotive Group; and Mike Mulkins of the GO Automotive Group.
For more information or to make a service appointment call the Auto Shop directly, 303-233-8780.
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