Steve Baldo Ford awards a car to Niagara Falls High School student

by Joshua Maloni Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, June 15, 2006 Lewiston Porter Sentinel, June 17, 2006 Steve Baldo Ford recently awarded a Niagara Falls High School senior with a new car. A new car. Not a folder, or a pack a pencils. Not even a certificate or a plaque. An entire, four-wheel, engine-included automobile. Why would a company award such a valuable prize? “(These kids are) our employees tomorrow,” said Steven Berry, general manager. As part of the dealership’s “Key to Perfection” program, students with perfect attendance were entered into a raffle to win a 2005 Ford Focus. The goal was to motivate students to attend class each and every day. The strategy		Amber Hout
worked, as 44 seniors went iron man – up from 13 seniors in 2004-05. Moreover, 205 students in the high school were perfect – a rate of 90 percent, the highest the school has ever seen. The winner, Amber Hout, was “not a perfect attendance student,” Berry said. “She missed many days the year before. (The program) definitely worked for her.”

Niagara Falls High School Principal Mark Laurrie said motivation to attend class, paired with relationship building and solid curriculum, is a winning formula.

As for awarding a car, “Did it work? Absolutely,” Laurrie said.

In addition to promoting the value of education, Berry said Steve Baldo – located on Niagara Falls Boulevard, Niagara Falls for 18 months – felt awarding the car was a good means of getting involved with the community.

“We support the school, they support us,” he said. “It makes us become a valuable part of the community.”

“We plan to do it next year,” Berry added. “It will be even bigger.”

Awarding a car was also a means of putting action to the dealership’s moniker: “Drive assured under the Steve Baldo umbrella.”

“You can be assured we’ll do more for you,” Berry said, stressing that, when customers become clients, they become customers for life. In other words, good business comes from good relationships.

Baldo is also offering a “Cars for Grads” program, wherein parents purchasing a vehicle for their graduating child will earn perks for said child, including $300 towards insurance, a $200 emergency credit card and a one-year membership to AAA.