Tim Harty, The Business Times

You get a car! You get a car! You get a car!

It wasn’t quite Oprah Winfrey’s famous scene circa 2004 when the popular daytime talk-show host gifted everyone in her studio audience a new car.

But Red Rock Auto Group on a smaller scale did something similar when it gifted new Nissan Leafs on two-year leases to six White Iced Award winners from School District 51.

The award winners – teachers Ryan McLaughlin (Bookcliff Middle School), Crystal Green (Palisade High School), Katie Hummel (Fruita Monument High School) and Joshua Lehman (Mount Garfield Middle School), counselor Janelle Gustafson (Orchard Avenue Elementary School) and kitchen manager Samantha Sidebottom (Central High School) – each received a small box with a bow on it when they were honored at the White Iced Celebration, hosted by the District 51 Foundation on Feb. 1.

Before opening his box, McLaughlin said he thought “this might be a gift card, maybe like an oil change.”

Instead, each box contained a key to a 2025 Nissan Leaf, an electric vehicle, which each will drive for free for two years.

Red Rock Auto Group Platform Manager Bryan Knight said the origin of the decision to provide such a gift goes back several years to fundraising activities and discussions with D51 Foundation Executive Director Angela Christensen.

“I was thinking one day: What’s something we could do that we could celebrate the winners?” said Knight, who manages each of Red Rock’s Grand Junction dealerships, which include Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, GMC and Honda. “Everything we’d done in the past went to the foundation, which is fantastic, and we thought: What can we do, something special, for the (White Iced) winners? And we talked about this for the last couple of years, and we visited it and we pondered on it, and it just felt like this was the right year to do it.”

Past donations by Red Rock Auto Group to the D51 Foundation included a check for $104,600 in April 2023, a total netted from a promotion during which each car sale led to a $100 donation to the foundation in the car buyer’s name.

Christensen added the gift given this year to the six White Iced Award winners is “pretty unusual” and “exciting on another level.”

“This is just so wonderful to be able to do this for these very deserving White Iced Award recipients,” Christensen said. “We’re so appreciative to Red Rock Auto Group and what champions they’ve been for the D51 staff members and for the foundation.”

Knight said a variety of factors led to the choice of the Nissan Leaf as the vehicle it provided.

“We have a handful of them,” he said. “There’s some incentives through Colorado and the factory to lower the price point just a little bit. And plus, it’s just a fun car that people that have them say they’re fun to drive, they’re fast, they’re peppy.”

Knight added the Leaf introduces more people to the electric-vehicle market.

“We’re excited about it,” he said, “and just seeing the smiles on their faces. They work hard with the kids. They give a lot of time and their energy … I think it’s a little bit of a thankless job, and we’re just lucky to have them. And this is just a small way we can give back and say thank you.”

Expect A Lot More Nominations Next Year

This year was the 13th White Iced Celebration, and D51 Foundation Executive Director Angela Christensen said the foundation received nearly 100 nominations from District 51 staff members.

Because Red Rock Auto Group provided free use of a new car for two years to each of the six White Iced Award winners this year, Christensen thinks the number of nominations next year could skyrocket.

“I have to tell you, I’ve already started thinking: How many nominations am I going to get next year?” she said. “I think I’ll have to put a little disclaimer that says this was a one-time thing that I just couldn’t believe happened. And I don’t know if something like this would happen again.”

Red Rock Auto Group Platform Manager Bryan Knight couldn’t commit to providing new cars again, but he did say, “We’ll see what the future holds. We will continue to support District 51 Foundation along with District 51. And we want to be a big part, or I should say a small part, of what they do, and we’ll continue to work with them down the road. And who knows what it’ll be, but there’ll always be something.”