Trick or Treat

Beware Cole Street on Halloween. The leaves are changing and ghosts and goblins are on the prowl in downtown Enumclaw. On Halloween night Cole Street closes for the annual trick-or-treat celebration. Each year we find our spookiest vehicle to deliver our ghostly treats to anyone who dares knock on the trunk of the haunted truck. Halloween fun is one of the many community events we enjoy as a hometown dealership. This Enumclaw tradition provides a safe environment for costumed little ones to collect their Halloween goodies. Check the Chamber of Commerce calendar for more information. We hope to see you there!

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Community Coat Drive

When the leaves begin to fall, it’s time to open up the coat closets. It is important to Gamblin Motors that everyone in our community has a nice warm coat to combat the chilly weather. Each fall we host a community coat drive and invite our employees, customers, and community members to go through their closets and donate their gently used coats, clothing, shoes, and socks. This is our fourth year of giving, and we are proud to have collected almost 100 coats for donation to the Enumclaw Clothing Bank.

The Enumclaw Clothing Bank is a non-profit organization that offers donated clothing items free of charge to community members in need. This wonderful organization provides necessities for many Enumclaw families who need a little extra help. A clean set of clothing provides both safety from the winter cold and confidence to face the day in comfort. We thank all those who donated. We thank Works-Sports and Outdoors for hosting one of our donation trucks. If you were unable to donate during the clothing drive, the Enumclaw Clothing Bank is located at JJ Smith School and is open for drop off and pick up on Tuesdays.resized_20161121_150833

Louisiana Flood Relief

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When Gamblin Motors employee Mark Maxey headed to New Orleans for a family vacation, he was not prepared for the devastation he would see on the way to their destination. As the plane began its descent into New Orleans, Mark was able to see firsthand the flood waters covering most of the greater Baton Rouge area.  Despite being in the area five days after the waters had crested and started to recede, only outlines of streets were visible and homes were still fighting off water. Mark explained, “There was more water than land, and we were there after the worst of it.” Mark came home determined to share what he had seen and find a way to help. The National Auto Dealers Association was also determined to offer assistance to the flood victims through the NADA National Relief Fund. Gamblin Motors employees were able to raise $1,500 to donate to the fund and help fellow dealership families affected by the flooding.  

The NADA National Relief Fund was established in 1992 and since its inception has donated almost $5 million to more than 8,700 dealership employees in need. The fund provides immediate assistance to dealership families hit hard by natural disasters. With the Louisiana flooding, an estimated 140,000 individuals were displaced due to the flooding, 1,500 of which were dealership families. The majority of the homes affected by the flooding were not located in floodplains and not insured for flood damage; flooding of this magnitude was unprecedented and unthinkable. These people are in desperate need and Gamblin Motors employees were looking to do their part in helping fellow automobile industry families with their recovery.

Gamblin Motors offered to match all employee donations to help the flooding victims. Employees raised $750 and Gamblin Motors matched these funds to bring the total donation to $1,500. NADA called on all dealerships across the country to donate $1,000 to reach their goal of $2 million in aid. Gamblin Motors was determined to do more with their contribution. We continue to think of all those affected by the Louisiana floods and encourage all to determine how they might help flood victims in need. To learn more about the NADA Emergency Relief Fund, go to www.nada.org/EmergencyRelief/.

Art Gamblin Memorial Scholarship

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This year marks the fourteenth year of the Art Gamblin Memorial Scholarship.  Since its inception, the fund has awarded scholarships to twenty-seven Enumclaw High School scholar athletes. These awards mark a combined total of $27,000 of scholarship funds designated to help students achieve their post-secondary school goals. We are proud to announce this year’s scholarship recipients and their future educational pursuits: Kylie Rademacher, Pacific Lutheran University, and Dylan Miller, Central Washington University.

The Art Gamblin Memorial Scholarship aims to recognize students who excel in academics, leadership and athletics. These qualities and skills were important to Art Gamblin starting at a young age. Academics played a strong role in the Gamblin family. Art learned first hand the importance of education by watching his single mother go to school and become a teacher during the Great Depression. He was literally surrounded by school at all times as the family later lived in the basement of the schoolhouse where his mother taught. His love for learning led him to become a teacher himself. While teaching and coaching high school in Sandpoint, Idaho, he found a new passion and career path during a summer sales job at the local Chevrolet dealership.  Art’s friendly nature and leadership skills made him a successful car man, and this led to Art buying the local Chevrolet dealership in Enumclaw, Washington.  The Gamblins quickly fell in love with Enumclaw and rooted their family in the community. For many years Art could be heard yelling from the stands as he cheered on his Enumclaw Hornet children and grandchildren. It is with this memory in mind that the friends and family of Art Gamblin continue to cheer and recognize the amazing scholar athletes from Enumclaw High School.

Every school year one senior boy and one senior girl are each awarded $500 a year for the course of two years. The money is earmarked for their continued educational aspirations. In the spring we welcome all graduating senior submissions for the Art Gamblin Memorial Scholarship. Teachers and administrators from Enumclaw High School comprise the selection committee and look for students with outstanding efforts in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. Gamblin Motors was Art Gamblin’s legacy, and we are proud to honor outstanding student achievement in his name.

A Great Supporter of Enumclaw Rotary

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This 1.2 million-member organization started with the vision of one man—Paul P. Harris. The Chicago attorney formed one of the world’s first service organizations, the Rotary Club of Chicago, on February, 23, 1905. This organization was a place where professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships. Rotary’s name came from the group’s early practice of rotating meetings among the offices of each member.

Gamblin Motors has been represented at Rotary since the late 1960’s, starting with our founder, Art Gamblin. Art was a champion of the Duck Race every year here in Enumclaw. Since then his son and our current owner, Alan Gamblin, has been a member of Rotary since 2000 and has held numerous positions and received several awards, including: Duck Master for several years and the Rotarian of the Year “Gear of the Year” in 2004.Daddy Daughter (1)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeri Gamblin has been a member of Rotary since 2014. She has served as the Community Chair since her induction where she has planned and executed four Senior Center activities, including the: “Honey Do”, the Senior Summer BBQ, Senior Thanksgiving, and Christmas Dinners. This past year she chaired the Father Daughter Valentine’s Day Dance where they had 3 sessions of 200 attendees. They had girls from 2 years old all the way to high school age there with their fathers. They planned activities, pictures, treats, and swag bags for each session. It was such a success they are already planning next year’s event.Daddy Daughter3

Jeri most recently received the Rotarian of the Year “Gear of the Year” award, and she feels truly humbled to receive this award from so many of her peers. She is very excited to continue her involvement with Rotary and the exciting activities and services they have planned for the future.

Rotarians have not only been present for major events in history—they’ve been a part of them. From the beginning, three key traits have remained strong throughout Rotary:

They’re truly international. Only 16 years after being founded, Rotary had clubs on six continents. Today they’re working together from around the globe both digitally and in-person to solve some of our world’s most challenging problems.

They persevere in tough times. During WWII, Rotary clubs in Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, and Japan were forced to disband. Despite the risks, many continued to meet informally and following the war’s end, Rotary members joined together to rebuild their clubs and their countries.

Their commitment to service is ongoing. They began their fight against polio in 1979 with a project to immunize 6 million children in the Philippines. By 2012, only three countries remain polio-endemic—down from 125 in 1988.

 

Serving at Full Bellies

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One of our favorite ways to help out the plateau community is cooking and providing dinner for Full Bellies. Full Bellies offers a FREE hot meal for families and individuals in a warm environment. Meals are prepared every Thursday by various groups and companies in the Enumclaw community. Several times a year Gamblin Motor’s employees get to serve at Full Bellies.

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Full Bellies was started by Colleen Michael, a stay-at-home mom, who didn’t want to see kids going to bed hungry. She had a vision to bring hot meals to families in need. With the help of Rainier Foothills Wellness Foundation, Calvary Presbyterian Church, and volunteers from the community, her vision became a reality. Anyone is welcome and can get a hot meal every Thursday at Calvary Presbyterian Church starting at 5:30pm. Full Bellies needs community support; for information on how to volunteer contact Rene Popke at the Rainier Foothills Foundation. This is a great way to get involved and help fight hunger.

http://rfwellnessfoundation.org/initiatives/neighbors-feeding-neighbors/

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