While Valparaiso-based car dealership Grieger’s Motor Sales provides customers throughout the Region with top-quality service and products, it lends significant support to the community in other ways as well. Among the most significant are Grieger’s charitable donations that benefit Valpo’s high school-aged students.
Brad Hallal, general manager at Grieger’s, and his coworkers are deeply passionate about supporting Valpo’s youth.
“Grieger’s Motor Sales has been a longstanding fixture in this community since 1959,” Hallal said. “A lot of people who work at the dealership grew up in or near Valpo. Our students are the future of the Valpo community, and we feel it is important to support them from early on. We seek to support them as they get older, financially and in other ways as well. We are always on the lookout for new opportunities to lift up our community’s students.”
In 2024, Grieger’s played an integral role in helping the Porter County Career and Technical Education Center secure a National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) certification. The Career Center, based in Valpo, offers high school students training in various fields, including agriculture, arts, and emergency medical services. With the ASE certification, the Career Center can provide the students enrolled in its automotive technician program with quality training that meets the national standard.
Hallal considers this endeavor to be an important way to support the local community, create job opportunities for students, and foster growth within the automotive industry.
“There is a shortage of technicians in our community,” Hallal said. “We think it's important to help cultivate the future of the industry by supporting Career Center students who are interested in working locally as automotive technicians. We want to support their aspirations and perhaps even offer them an opportunity for employment in the future. We'd love to know that they and their peers will help support our business once they get older as well. Our objective is to make Grieger’s a name that they can know and trust for years to come.”
Grieger’s has been closely involved with Valparaiso High School (VHS) in previous years, from being a featured sponsor on the VHS outdoor scoreboard to displaying cars at school football games.
Last year, however, the Grieger's team decided to do even more to support the VHS’ athletic programs, particularly those sports that receive less attention than sports such as football and basketball. They started bringing coolers filled with ice-cold Gatorade and decorated with Valpo Vikings and Grieger’s stickers to these sporting events.
“Our goal is to make these students feel like somebody else is paying attention and supporting them out there,” Hallal said. “The crowds at golf, tennis, gymnastics, track and field, and cross-country events are largely made up of the athletes’ family and friends. We wanted to make a difference, and the students have been very receptive to it. Last fall, the volleyball team always got excited whenever they saw us coming with the coolers, and they even featured us on their social media. It’s a lot of fun, and we're looking forward to doing it again this year.”
If you would like to learn more about Grieger’s Motor Sales and its services, please visit griegermotors.com.