Runde Auto Chat

Welcome back from what was hopefully a wonderful Holiday Break! In continuation of spotlighting local charitable organizations that better the community, we are honored to feature Camp Courageous and The Dubuque Food Pantry. Camp Courageous- Camp Director, Charlie Becker: Everyone at Camp Courageous is very excited over the planned Lake Project. Camp Courageous recently purchased 30-acres of land from camp's neighbor to the immediate west of base camp. The purpose of this land was to establish a lake. One needs to be at least 2-miles from the runway of an airport...and this land falls just outside those 2-miles of the Monticello Airport. Currently campers are bused 22-miles (round trip) to Central Park to do lake activities. The buses not only carry the precious cargo of campers and staff, but also trailers full of canoes. This purchase and subsequent construction of a lake will greatly lessen the camp's risk, with everything being within walking distance or a train ride from base camp. Campers will be able to canoe, fish, and do other water activities, all within an easy walk or train ride. Work has begun on the project with the clearing of trees and contouring the land. Campers have enjoyed watching the project, in anticipation that next year they may be canoeing in this area. We also plan to build a pavilion that will go with the lake. A perfect place to warm up in the winter or put on one's cross country skies or skates. Currently the demand on the camp, (those with special needs wanting to come to camp) far exceeds the facilities and staffing we currently have. Camp Courageous goes year-round (including winter camping weeks) just to try our best to meet the need. During registrations, the camp is generally booked for the year, within 10-minutes. However, there are always beds available for emergency respite care, which is available 24-hours a day, 365-days a year." The Dubuque Food Pantry- Manager of the Food Pantry, Sister Lynn: The Dubuque Food Pantry handed out 500 food baskets between Friday 12-16. The baskets went to families that signed up for the program throughout the Tri-State area. The basket contains all the fixings for a family Holiday meal. The food is both donated and purchased. Businesses, Churches and Schools donate products like; hams, turkeys, canned goods, etc. Any monetary donations the Food Pantry receives help to buy items like milk, eggs, margarine and any of the other food that is needed to complete the basket. All of us at Runde's would like to extend our gratitude to all of these charities that make the Holiday's possible for many!

We'd like to take a moment to recognize a couple of the local charity organizations that are staying active around the holidays. We had the opportunity to get a hold of some local organizations to see what programs they have in place for the Holidays to help serve the community. We will be spotlighting new organizations throughout the week! Last year we published an overview (Click Here to see Part 1 & Click Here to see Part 2) of various local charitable organizations that were helping the holiday's be more cheery for people who need it. Multicultural Family Center Dubuque- Director of the Multicultural Family Center - Tara Velez: "During the holiday season, the MFC provides holiday gifts to youth in our mentoring and tutoring programs. Additionally all the teens from teen night receive a hygiene pack which includes shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, soap, face wash, toothbrushes, toothpaste and other necessary hygiene products. We also host two holiday celebrations for families in December. The Multicultural Holiday Celebration, which recognized the various religious and cultural traditions celebrated in the Tri-State area. La Posada, a Mexican holiday which remembers the journey of Mary and Joseph. At both of these event, each youth receives gloves, a hat or mittens. And the adults enter a raffle to receive a necessity basket (toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, conditioner, soap, dish soap, lotion, toothpaste, tooth brushes, cleaning supplies and more) or food basket (turkey, rice, beans, potatoes, fruit, veggies, etc). During the winter months, we see families struggling to have enough food and necessities to take care of their family. We also realize that parents don't always have the money to buy their children gifts, which is why we do the sponsorship program." St. Marks Community Center - St. Marks Interim Director, Michelle Covey: "For the past 9 years St. Mark Community Center has offered to its families the Sponsoring Angels Program. This program offers citizens the opportunity to provide warm clothing to children who attend our programs and their siblings. Often we have more children than sponsors, so the generous donations of businesses and individuals are used to purchase clothing for these children so they have warm clothes under the tree. We greatly appreciate the generosity of our community in helping us make Christmas a reality for these families!" Check back next week for Camp Courageous and the Dubuque Food Pantry Updates!

Today was Prescott Elementary School's Luncheon to support various FREE after-school art programs for Prescott students. Continued support from the community helps Prescott keep these classes available to the students free of charge.

Everyone enjoyed the wonderful lunch which included Champps' Soup, Bread Various Desserts and a Drink. Prescott students were there to help out by distributing desserts, picking up dishes and answering questions for people. Those who attended were also treated to a full orchestra and choir of Prescott students as they played and sang while people enjoyed their food. Everyone was welcome to the event, no reservation was required AND you got to take home an original piece of pottery made by a Prescott student.

Here's a Rundown of Prescott's Art Programs: (Click on the Picture to Enlarge)

This years luncheon is over, but if you are in for some good food, great atmosphere and a wonderful cause, then be sure to make plans to attend next years luncheon!

The newest addition to Runde's proud family of upstanding sales professionals is Kaylin Seffrood! Kaylin has great experience from other automotive shops and has now found her way to Runde's where she is enjoying selling new Chevrolet's. You'll find Kaylin always smiling, willing to help, and brightening up whichever room she may be in. We sat down with Kaylin to get to know more about her.

Where are you from? Monroe, WI.

Born and raised? Born and raised.

Where do you live now? We just bought a house in Hazel Green, Wisconsin. We moved there during the 4th of July Weekend.

What brought you to Hazel Green? Initially, my fiancé and I came to Hazel Green to work for Dubuque Harley Davidson so we would avoid the hour and a half drive to get there from Monroe. We tried to find a place that would let us live with our pets but didn't have much luck so we bought a house.

What made you want to work for Runde Chevrolet? I've always wanted to sell vehicles. I stopped in here one day to get warranty work on my truck and asked if you guys were hiring and it just happened that you were.

How do you like your experience so far? I love it.

What do you like to do around the Hazel Green Area? There isn't much to do... unfortunately with our hours we've been just mostly staying at home and playing with the pets or going back and forth to Monroe or Freeport, WI (where his family is from) to visit family. We go out to dinner and stuff like that as well.

What do you drive? An '08 Chevy Avalanche.

What's your favorite car? A '59 Chevy Parkwood. My dad has one, I love it.

What kind of pets do you have? A dog (boxer), a cat, and a hedgehog.

How did you come about getting the hedgehog? I saw an ad on Craigslist and I went about an hour to pick her up. It was totally worth it.

How old is she and what's her name? She's a year-and-a-half and she's named Eseme. I have no idea what it means, it's what the previous owners named her.

Do you... pet... hedgehogs? Yeah, you can. When she calms down and her quills are back she is fine to pet but she can puff up her quills anytime and that hurts. She's even drawn blood on my fiancé.

Do all the animals get along? The cat runs the house. She's the boss. You could say she's literally insane. One second she'll be loving you and the next second she'll claw at your arm.

Did you have her from a kitten? She just turned 10; I've only had her for about four years. I got her from the humane society and she was named "sweetheart". That doesn't quite fit her personality.

I hear your engaged, when's the wedding? 06/09/2012. We've got so much stuff done already; it kind of takes half the fun out of it.

Going to be a big wedding? It's going to be a very small ceremony and whoever shows up to the reception, shows up.

Big family on both of your sides? My family is small, I'm an only child. But Ryan's [Kaylin's fiancé] family is huge. We go over to his side of the family for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. And every time there's always over 25 people there.

Your fiancé works here now, how's he liking the gig? Yes, he just started here as a mechanic, he says he's loving it.

You guys watch any movies? We watch all kinds of movies. We just bought The Smurfs and we just watched that the other night.

What was the last theater movie you've seen? I think it was the last Transformers movie: Dark of the Moon.

What do you guys like to do? Any events you go to? During the summer months we ride our motorcycles and during the winter we ride our snowmobiles. Not really big partiers really. We are kind of in the middle of re-modeling the house.

What kind of bikes do you guys have? Right now we only have Ryan's Harley Road Glide. We have two of my dad’s bikes in our basement, a Road Glide and a Heritage and my friend has her Road glide and an Ultra-Classic stored there as well.

Where do you ride to? We've been up to Canada and to Georgia.

How long did that take? Both trips took about a week total, we took our time. The bike I road back then was a Buell Blast and I road it from Monroe to Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and anyone who knows that bike knows that's not a bike that you take that far.

Any future trips planned? I'd like to go to the Oregon/Washington area. Any trip outside of North America is fun.

Any plans for the holidays? It depends on what day, but yes. We'll be going to Rockford to Ryan’s Grandma's house for the biggest gathering with 25-30 people. We also go to Freeport to see his parents as well as to Monroe to see my family. We generally just eat dinner, talk and exchange gifts.

Why should customers come to see you when they want to buy a vehicle? I have a little different perspective on things since I'm a woman. And I always treat people right. They should come in and speak with me because like Runde's, they will like my attitude.

What's the strangest thing that ever happened to you? It was at the 105th anniversary for Harley Davidson in Milwaukee when I was living there working at the Harley dealership. We were so swamped that this lady who just bought a pair of boots came up and asked if we had any socks for sale, which we didn't. So she literally bought the socks from my feet. So I gave them to her and she gave me 10 dollars.

Ever play an instrument? I used to play the trombone for about two years.

What's your favorite band? I don't really have a favorite.

What's in the CD player of your car right now? I have six cd's in my car right now. I have Adel, Lincoln Park and I forget the rest.

Do you like Rap? As long as I can understand it, I like it.

So you don't like Rap? Not usually.

Favorite movie? That's tough... I love the Transformers movies; I like Over the Hedge and the Cars movies as well.

You said you had some service work done here. How did you like being a customer of Runde's? I loved it, it was the best service that I've ever gotten. Many of the dealerships I went to, just because I'm a girl, treated me like I don't know anything about vehicles and ignore me. It’s nice here that I'm not treated that way, I can chat with the guys here and be treated as an equal.

Welcome to the crew Kaylin! Stay tuned for an interview with Kaylin's Fiancé - Ryan Kerchner!