3 minute read
Cheryl McFadden
of Forsyth
Story by Sudie Crouch | Photo by Ashlyn Yule
After a career working for many big name media organizations — her accolades are plenty — Cheryl McFadden says she’s been “blessed” with the opportunity to work in what she calls, the most satisfying job of her career.
When asked what makes it so special, she’s quick to respond it’s the culture.
A culture that it’s faith-based not just in words but actions, and it’s at the heart of everything there at the dealership and stems from a company mantra of doing the right thing when no one is looking.
As the Director of Marketing & Community Engagement at Beaver Toyota, Cheryl says she is able to help organize and plant the seeds to help put the initiatives in action but says it’s definitely not just her doing it. Rather, she says it takes a village to do the work, with so many of the employees being involved in different ways of serving and helping.
That culture of giving comes from the top down, and spreads throughout the company as a whole. “This is their [Mike and Linda Beavers] vehicle in the community — their heart and culture, and Patrick [the General Manager] provides the leadership that is the reason for our success,” Cheryl said.
For Cheryl, community engagement includes being able to create those partnerships to help make the impact spread a bit further. From supporting the local American Legion 307, the Forsyth County Animal Shelter or First Responders, she has helped create events that provide support while growing the community’s awareness.
Even though most of their regular fundraisers were put on hold, that only allowed the opportunity to find more creative efforts to support the community. During the height of COVID, one of the proactive measures the dealership took was offering a gift card to everyone who purchased a vehicle; the gift card was always from a local small business.
This was just one way of not only giving back to the customers but to also help other businesses in the community, while keeping the money local.
“It’s not about writing a check, but really rolling up our sleeves and helping the community,” Cheryl said.
But, what she calls her “heart-cord’’ is helping the underprivileged children throughout the community through partnering with nonprofits such as CASA, Habitat for Humanity, and MentorMe, which will begin in September.
Being able to help support the local schools and students is not so much about being able to have their name attached to their efforts, but rather to do something that will have an impact inside the classroom for the students and educators.
Working for a company with such a culture driven by random acts of kindness has created an atmosphere for what Cheryl describes as miracles and “a lot of wows,” it can be hard to narrow it down to one favorite event she’s witnessed. But, she said one that stands out was when they were able to help a family who after trying to get pregnant discovered they were expecting not one, but four babies. “We were able to get a vehicle for them, car seats, fill the back of the vehicle with diapers, and pay their rent for six months,” she said.
“That was so much fun to be able to do something like that… you just felt like you were blessed.”
Cheryl’s coming up on her five-year anniversary with Beaver Toyota and says she feels like she has found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow with what she does in working with the people she does and serving her community.
“Fate is what brought me here,” she says. “It doesn’t feel like work at all. I am just so blessed to come in here each morning.”
