NBA star's dealership aids to eateries

NBA star Damian Lillard, a co-owner of a Toyota dealership that opened in Oregon last month, is offering to help restaurants in town that are having a tough time dealing with a new round of restrictions in response to surging cases of COVID-19.

Lillard, who plays for the Portland Trail Blazers, invited every restaurant in McMinnville, Ore., to sell the dealership a $100 gift card.

"We'll take the cards from all the amazing establishments and donate them to a local nonprofit so they can distribute them to families in need this holiday season," he wrote from the Instagram account of Damian Lillard Toyota in McMinnville.

Oregon's governor instituted a statewide freeze through Wednesday, Dec. 2, on indoor and outdoor dining, entertainment venues and gyms.

Lillard took over a Toyota dealership about 35 miles southwest of Portland with partner Brian Sanders, an experienced dealership manager who also heads a charity called A Working Family's Christmas.

The dealership has pingpong tables and basketball hoops in the showroom and serves custom-designed doughnuts to honor Lillard's "0" jersey number. Employees wear Lillard's "Dame" line of Adidas shoes.

Customers who join the store's VIP club get preferred access to Lillard appearances, and he plans to invite 40 random customers to be his guest at a Trail Blazers game each year.