Scott Bieler of West Herr donates minivan to Family Promise of WNY

Auto group makes Christmas miracle come true for homeless families

Scott Bieler, president & CEO of West Herr Automotive Group, has generously donated a 2019 Dodge Grand Caravan SE to homeless children and their families at Family Promise of WNY.

A few weeks ago, the former Family Promise of WNY vehicle was totaled in an accident. The homeless shelter has been desperately looking for community support to quickly secure another vehicle in order to transport the families in its program.

Bieler is making that dream come true. He and his team will gift Family Promise of WNY with the vehicle on Tuesday at the West Herr Subaru location at 3559 Southwestern Blvd., Orchard Park.

“We are blown away by the generosity of Scott Bieler and the West Herr family,” said Lu Firestone, executive director of Family Promise of WNY. “We have six families in shelter every night, and our van is the backbone of our efforts to get them rehoused. We use it daily to take our guests on housing searches, to doctor’s visits, and to afterschool programs. Thank you again to Scott Bieler and his team at West Herr for being a Christmas miracle to our children and families!”

Family Promise of WNY is one of just two emergency family shelters in Erie County that keep families together through the crisis of homelessness. Over 70% of its guests are children. A vehicle is critical to helping Family Promise of WNY connect families to essential supports in the community so that they can move as quickly as possible out of homelessness.

 West Herr, which was founded in 1950, started as a single-point Ford Dealership in Hamburg, and is now the largest automotive group in New York. Since 1950, West Herr has sold more than 1,200,000 vehicles. With 32 locations in Erie, Niagara, Monroe and Ontario counties, plus East Syracuse, the company has 23 franchises and 2,416 employees. In 2021, West Herr will sell nearly 60,000 vehicles and service more than 470,000 vehicles. It has has received Business First of Buffalo’s “Best Places to Work in WNY” award for 17 consecutive years and the Better Business Bureau “Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics” eight times.

For more information about Family Promise of WNY, contact Firestone at 716-771-3007 or [email protected].