Would you believe us if we told you that there is a company that supported 76 families in our Adopt-A-Family program simply by collecting loose change? Pull-A-Part is an award-winning family business that serves the do-it-yourself, used auto parts market. Their unique operating system has transformed what was once thought of as “the junkyard” into a sustainable automotive recycling business.

“We’re the largest privately owned automotive recycler in the country. We have 36 facilities spread across 16 states. We buy hundreds of thousands of end of life vehicles and if you think there’s lots of change between the cushions of a couch you should look under the seat of a car because there’s a lot of it. All of that money is channeled to our community relations initiatives: Our Fueling Futures program where we invest in charitable organizations in the communities we serve that are focused towards disadvantaged youth, and Adopt-A-Family through Soldiers’ Angels,” says Derick Corbett, Senior Vice President at Pull-A-Part

Pull-A-Part adopted their first families through our program in 2017 after their Director of Marketing, Jenna Griffin, discovered the program and brought it to the company. Over the years they’ve increased the number of families supported, with 2024 being their biggest yet. Initially, they had adopted 70 families, but after seeing our urgent appeal with nearly 700 Military and Veteran families still seeking sponsors, they answered the call and adopted six more families in the Atlanta area where they’re headquartered.

“Pull-A-Part team members across the country got really excited about the opportunity to serve our Veteran community. They gradually took ownership of the efforts and worked hard to raise as much money as they could so they could serve more families. The team members at each of our Pull-A-Part stores take a tremendous amount of pride in the role they play in our Adopt-A-Family initiative. As each store raised more money and collected more donations, we were able to adopt more and more families each Christmas since 2017,” says Luke Griffin, Marketing & Events Coordinator at Pull-A-Part

How they manage support

During the adoption process, each facility works with families from their jurisdictions, getting the children’s wishlists and coordinating delivery.

“It’s pretty special because it’s very tangible. The families that we serve are families we could run into at the stores we operate,” says Derick

Their corporate headquarters also gets involved, matching the change with corporate contributions to supplement efforts. Jenna handles the purchasing of gifts, collecting the lists from each location (and checking them twice), and then shopping for the items. Each store has a wrapping party with food, tacky sweaters, and fun contests. This year, the challenge was to wrap the most presents the fastest. The store didn’t just win a prize, the team’s families all received an extra $50 gift card!

Since 2017, Pull-A-Part has served a total of 419 Veteran families with over 1,200 children. We know you’re dying to know (because we were, too), how much change generates that much change? For 2024’s efforts, about $45,000 in loose change was collected between October and December of 2024.

 “It is a lot of change and it’d be really easy to put in your pocket or put it in the bank, but I’m proud of what we do with it. I think what makes me the most proud is how much our teammates enjoy putting it to good use. You don’t get to $45,000 if teammates put it in their pocket, which is easy to do. I just think it’s pretty incredible because it takes a little extra effort to take that quarter instead of put it in your pocket and making yourself a little more wealthy to make sure it all goes to the right spot and then trust that everybody else is going to leave it there. The Adopt-A-Family program is awesome and I love it, but it is equally awesome to watch our people invest themselves in it,” says Derick

Pull-A-Part’s 2024 efforts resulted in 76 Veteran families being cared for during the holiday and over 213 children receiving presents. In addition to gifts, every family received a gift card to purchase groceries for their family dinner. We are so thankful for their generosity and continued support!

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