WAGONWORK COLLISION CENTER SELECTED TO RECEIVE 2004 HEART OF COMMUNITY AWARD

Wagonwork Collision Center, located in Alexandria, Virginia, started in 1965 as Wagonwork Corporation and now has over 35 years in business as a full-service, independent collision repair center specializing in import vehicle bodywork.

In announcing the award, Hopkins House President, J. Glenn Hopkins, said that Wagonwork Collision Center was chosen because “the company’s extensive charitable activities reach into the homes and lives of children and families in communities across the Washington, DC regional area.  We want to share with the community, through the Heart of the Community Award, the good news about the wonderful things this company and its employees are doing for the children and families of communities throughout the area.”

Last year, the company donated money, materials and volunteers to a long list of charitable causes including providing Easter packages for children at Children’s Hospital in Washington, DC, University of Maryland Children’s Hospital, and Children with AIDS; the company collaborated with other organizations to serve turkey dinners to the less fortunate on Thanksgiving  and sponsored numerous opportunities across the region for students and teachers involved with automotive training to further their education.

Locally, in Alexandria Wagonwork Collision employees (including the owner) dress up as the Easter Bunny and Tom Turkey, employees volunteer as reading tutors at Mt. Vernon Elementary, the company sponsors local National night out activities for Mt. Jefferson and Lynnhaven civic associations, they assist in the purchase of trees for area streets, and they established a scholarship fund for the Mt. Jefferson and Lynnhaven civic associations.

The Hopkins House trustees created this award in 1993 “to recognize a business or business employee group that best exemplifies the qualities of meaningful corporate citizenship, such as active community involvement, local charity, unique or exceptional human services benefits to employees, employee volunteer programs, or active employee participation on civic boards.” 

The award will be presented during the organization's tenth annual awards luncheon at the Sheraton Suites, 801 N. St. Asaph Street in Alexandria on Friday, February 13^th at noon. 

Tickets to the luncheon are $45 each and may be purchased in advance from Hopkins House; tickets will not be sold at the door.  Proceeds from the event will benefit the Hopkins House Children’s Scholarship Fund. This special Fund helps low-income and working parents afford the cost of quality preschool for their children by offering “sliding fee” scholarship grants based on the family’s financial need.  These working parents often make too much to be eligible for government assistance and too little to afford preschool tuition.

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