who own Shelton Collision Repair
in Derby, Kan., were awarded the
Governor’s Award of Excellence for
their civic generosity.
The auto body repair business is deeply ingrained in Brad Shelton ’94. He was practically raised in his father’s shop, tucked away on a side street in Derby, Kan.
At 14 he became an official employee at Shelton Collision Repair, and today, with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Wichita State under his belt, he and his wife Tracie own the recently-expanded facility.
Body putty and ball-peen hammers aside, though, Shelton has something else in his blood: a calling to civic service. Whether he’s sponsoring Little League baseball teams, conducting rescue classes for emergency first responders or attending meetings of the Derby Community Foundation or Derby Chamber of Commerce (of which he is vice president), Shelton is always giving back to the community.
Notable among his noble pastimes is his annual practice of refurbishing a dilapidated automobile and giving it away, with no strings attached, to a worthy recipient. It is for this particular act of generosity that Shelton and his company have been awarded the highest business accolade bestowed by the State of Kansas: the Governor’s Award of Excellence.
The yearly auto giveaway is part of Shelton Collision’s participation in the Akzo Nobel Benevolence Program, founded and maintained by the Dutch company that manufactures Sikkens automotive paint.
“Five years ago we did our first one,” says Shelton. “What we do is solicit two charitable organizations to submit a list of qualified candidates, and then we pick from those candidates that they’ve chosen.”
Most of the recipients of Shelton’s revamped rides have been women who have escaped abusive domestic situations with their children in tow. Often these women have few resources at their disposal, and a dependable automobile makes a huge fundamental difference in their day-to-day lives.
Though the concept of the car giveaway didn’t originate at Shelton Collision Repair — “I would like to take credit for the idea, but I can’t,” he laughs — Shelton did up the ante by soliciting his fellow Derbyites for extra goodies to pass along with the car. “We’ve taken it one step further than a lot of shops in the country by involving the community. The community is what makes it an event, not the car. It’s all the things people pull together — cash, gas cards, Christmas gifts for the kids, et cetera. The DECA group at the high school sells cookies to raise money.”
Everybody at Shelton’s shop contributes, too. “The technicians donate their labor in their spare time. The process (of preparing a car) takes typically about a month. This year we gave away two cars; neither one of them was really wrecked, they just both needed a lot of work. It took longer because there was so much work involved. Lots of paint, mechanical repairs, parts. It was about a two-month ordeal.”
The warm feeling he gets from giving back to the community might be enough for Shelton, but winning the Governor’s Award of Excellence last summer was icing on the cake. “I was flattered that the city picked us to be nominated,” he says, “but I knew we didn’t have a chance against these other companies. The state called me and said I was one of four finalists. Then we went to Topeka for the awards and were lucky enough to walk away the winners.” The Sheltons received the distinctive crystal award from Gov. Kathleen Sebelius herself.
He may have won the state’s top business award, but for Shelton, going above and beyond the call of duty is business as usual. He explains, “I was raised to try to do the right thing.”
