Topeka Giving Back | LEWIS TOYOTA OF TOPEKA
Giving back comes in many forms, and that’s something the people behind Lewis Toyota of Topeka know well.
Project Topeka Community Food Drive, Kansas Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys & Girls Clubs of Topeka, 501’s Topeka Center for Advanced Learning & Careers (TCALC), Toys for Tots, LifeHouse Child Advocacy Center, and more — the car dealership has supported them all.
“We don’t just write them a check,” said Brad Lewis, dealer principal at Lewis Toyota.
When they bought uniforms for students at TCALC, for example, Lewis and Mike Surey, Lewis Toyota’s general manager, met with students directly, helped them get fitted with the right sizes, and answered any questions they had.
“We actually make an attempt to be involved in the whole process, to see what the money’s going toward and who all it’s benefiting,” Brad Lewis said. “It makes it easier to continue to give, too.”
That on-the-ground approach to philanthropy, the Lewises added, and the empathy building it inspires, is part of what sets their business apart.
THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE CAUSES
According to both Brad and Jim Lewis, Surey gets a lot of credit for the Topeka dealership’s current model of giving.
“Mike Surey got me outside of my comfort zone,” Brad Lewis said. “He has put me in front of more people in the last year, year-and-a-half than I’ve been in front of since 2018.”
That’s when Brad Lewis bought the Lewis Toyota of Topeka dealership from his uncle and started to make it his own.
“Yes, I was donating; I was doing things,” he said, with involvement often ending with a written check. “But I wasn’t following up and being a part of it.”
Now, Brad Lewis has memories to share of impactful moments when his dealership’s giving and volunteerism made a difference — like when he was able to hand deliver a $5,000 check to the principal of Pine Ridge Prep Early Learning Center in East Topeka just a few weeks ahead of the winter holidays.
“They were running short on funding for something,” Brad said. “We walked in there and go ‘Hey are you Gabby?’ She kind of got caught off guard, and I had a $5,000 check, a big check. And it said ‘To Pine Ridge Prep.’ It probably took her five to 10 minutes to get herself together. She was crying. All of her employees were crying. It was Christmas time. It was unbelievable.”
“That was probably the best donation I may have ever given, because you knew it was going right to benefit the 25-30 kids in there. You could tell that money was going to be put in the right person’s hands.”
That’s just one of the stories he can now tell. And Surey has a few of his own, including a recent experience with Be Filled of South Topeka, a food bank, community closet, resource center and more serving residents of the city’s Montara neighborhood.
“The Lewises were kind enough to donate a big transit van,” Surey said. “(Be Filled is) essentially making sure that people are being fed in the Montara area. They were using their own vehicles to try to pull and transport all this food. Well, they blew their transmission out trying to do it.”
“I think it's been about 20,000 people they have helped in the area so far this year. When you think about that — we’re doing one thing right now, but how many people it’s really stretching out and touching immediately. That’s been one of the big ones for me.”
PUSHING OTHERS TO PAY IT FORWARD
Though the causes Lewis Toyota supports are wide ranging, they’ve put a big emphasis on giving back to the community’s youth.
“That’s going to be the leadership at some point in time,” Surey said. “That’s one of the things that drew me to this group, the simple fact that Brad’s a young father. My wife and I have three kids at the house, too. So for us, it’s about being able to pave the way and set those kids up for a better opportunity to contribute to the community.”
The dealership also makes a point to learn what causes are important to their employees. It’s why they’ve participated in walks for breast cancer awareness and supported organizations like Sole Reason, a nonprofit providing shoes to local kids in need.
“They see the top management getting involved, and then, they want to get involved,” Surey said of staff. “When we talk about this, where do we get the ideas for a lot of this — it’s from our employees. It’s causes that they get behind, they get after.”
A desire to give back and do what each member can to improve their communities is something that seems to run in the Lewis family, which is now looking at its third generation of dealership owners.
Generosity, they say, is a Topeka trait, too — though there’s always room for more people to step up.
“In order to move forward, sometimes you’ve got to give back,” Brad said. “That’s where we’re at right now.”
“When we do a lot of the stuff that we do,” Surey added, “maybe we can inspire another business to say, ‘You know what, those guys are doing it; let’s go ahead and jump in.’”
Building awareness, making connections that spur positive change, and having a little fun with it along the way, they add, are just a few other ways residents of the capital city can do their part — no matter how big or how small one’s circle or business may be.
“Who’s going to step up with us?” Brad said. “Let’s get some cohesiveness between all the businesses and make Topeka better.”
