Dahl Automotive’s Lube-A-Thon raises more than $40k for Family & Children’s Center

The Winona and La Crosse communities raised over $40,000 during Dahl Automotive’s 15th annual Lube-A-Thon last month to support children and families.

All of the funds raised, for the 10th year in a row, were donated Wednesday to the Family and Children’s Center child abuse prevention programs.

“Today’s donation is huge for Family and Children’s Center,” Tita Yutuc, president/CEO of the Family and Children’s Center, said Wednesday. “Without the support of the Dahl Automotive and the generous support of the communities, it would be hard to keep our doors open.”

Yutuc said the funds help replenish the organization’s coffers after a recent 41% cut in federal funding for child abuse prevention programs.

“This helps the children in our communities that have been abused and hurt,” she said. “It helps the parents in our communities that need some help and are at risk. And so we’re forever grateful for every dollar that has come in this year.”

Tyler Dahl, co-owner of Dahl Automotive, said Wednesday the Family and Children Center is present in all of the communities where Dahl Automotive’s dealerships are located.

“Family and Children’s Center has been just an amazing partner in our communities, specifically with a child abuse prevention programs, programs that don’t receive a lot of public funding,” Tyler Dahl said.

The Lube-A-Thon takes place in September each year. Dahl Automotive offers $5 off all of its oil changes and then donates $5 for each oil change completed.

Customers are then given the opportunity to match the donation.

“They came out with strides this year. Over 35% of the funds donated this year actually came from our guests,” Dahl said, sharing 2023 was the most successful year yet with over 3,000 oil changes completed in September.

Yutuc said two programs will primarily benefit from the Lube-A-Thon funds: the Child Advocacy Centers in La Crosse and Winona and the Healthy Families Program.

Child Advocacy Centers are a safe and secure location that children can share their abuse stories with a trained professional forensic interviewer. The children are only asked to share their story a single time through this program, so any trauma of having to repeat their story can be minimized.

The center’s Healthy Families Program is an intensive home visiting program to help the communities’ families, Yutuc said.

Seeing people come together to raise money for the organization has been “amazing,” Yutuc said, and makes it feel “like people care and that they understand that there’s a need in the community and a need that we all have to come together and a need that if we do come together, these programs will continue to help the families that need our help and the kids that are most vulnerable and at risk populations.”

She said she takes comfort in knowing the organization and its partners are able to work together to take care of the communities’ children.