From service lane to food aid

Four times a week, hundreds of vehicles drove through one of Troy Duhon's service lanes. They didn't come for oil changes or recall work but instead to pick up bags of free food.

The need for food assistance skyrocketed in New Orleans amid the coronavirus pandemic with people out of work, said Duhon, owner of Premier Automotive Group based in the same city. After Hurricane Katrina, Duhon and his wife, Tracy, founded the nonprofit Giving Hope, which operates a soup kitchen and the Food Pantry of New Orleans, among other philanthropic efforts.

Demand in March "went through the roof," he said. "Literally, we started having people line up at 4 in the morning."

When people could no longer safely go into Giving Hope's warehouse to pick up food, Duhon turned the service and parts area of an old Ford dealership — his group's corporate headquarters — into a drive-through with two lines.

With the need so large, Duhon said, he pulled some employees from his dealerships to volunteer with distribution.

"Let's be honest, we weren't selling cars during March and April and May," he said. "So a lot of them came over and volunteered. But the cool thing is I give them an extra vacation day to volunteer."

On some of its busiest days, the New Orleans food pantry served 750 vehicles and often multiple families per car, Duhon said. Giving Hope served 18,047 families in March and distributed more than 1.8 million pounds of food. That rose to 25,985 families in April and nearly 2.6 million pounds of food.

Smaller food pantries also run twice a week in Kansas City, Kan., and once a week in Seaside, Calif., near Monterey, where Duhon also has stores.

Joe Homen, general manager of Premier Hyundai of Seaside, told Automotive News that when the dealership and Monterey Food Bank hosted a food pantry drive-through for the first time on March 1, more than 600 cars came. Since then, employees have volunteered every Tuesday, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

"The line grows more every week," Homen said, noting that on July 14, there were around 720 cars stretching over 10 to 12 blocks, starting at 6 a.m.

He added that while the efforts started with at-risk seniors in mind, anyone can swing by. Many recipients, including some dealership customers, have come every week. "I've gotten to know a lot of the people that drive through," he said.

Homen says the store plans to continue giving back. "I don't foresee the need going down and I don't foresee stopping anytime soon," Homen said.

At Premier Automotive's home base, meanwhile, Duhon said $25 from each vehicle sale across his more than 20 locations in five states goes to Giving Hope.

Duhon's father, the late Corbett Duhon, was also a car dealer and urged his son to keep helping others.

"The last thing my father said to me was, 'Son, don't ever shut down that food pantry. No one's ever going to remember how many cars you sold in your life. But the good Lord is counting every time you feed his people.' "