TAMPA, Fla. — As you get out to do your holiday shopping this weekend, it's a good time to pick up a toy for a child in need. There's a local company that wants to help encourage donations by offering you something in return — a free oil change.
Ashley and Adrien Butler own 16 franchises of Ice Cold Air Auto Repair across the Tampa Bay area. They've been collecting donations for Toys for Today for 18 years now.
Over those years, they estimate they've brought in about 40,000 toys. They want customers and even their own staff to think about what it's like for kids on Christmas morning.
"We have everybody close their eyes and think about Christmas morning and the day you got your favorite game, maybe you got your monopoly set, maybe you got a Backgammon set, maybe you got UNO cards or Hungry Hungry Hippos," Adrien said. "Whatever that feeling was back in the day, we try to encourage our teammates, our staff to think about that, and it's worked. So far we've had about 40 percent of our staff donate bicycles already."
Both Adrien and Ashley have personal reasons for making sure as business owners, they are giving back to the community.
"For me growing up, my mom had foster kids, she had a ton of foster kids and we always benefited from social programs," Ashley said.
"We both had young parents and so community was a big deal for the holidays and our families and we just want to make sure that if someone's in need, they know that they can come to Ice Cold Air and we'll try our best to find a resource for them," Adrien said.
The deadline to get your unwrapped toys to Ice Cold Air is this weekend. Toys valued at $20 or more qualify you for a free oil change or $20 toward a repair. If you don't need service that day, you can get a coupon for a later date. Click here for a list of locations.