The Thompson Organization and Walser Automotive Group each ramped up their efforts to help others recently.

At Walser, the Minneapolis-based dealer company said it is thinking about the success of its employees in a new way — by focusing on their children.

On Tuesday. the dealer group announced an extension of its scholarship program; a move launching this month to provide new education benefits to employees’ children and dependents.

The Walser Driven to Succeed Scholarship is offering up to $10,000 in tuition assistance in support of higher education. The scholarship will support students of Walser employees who are pursuing technical and associates degrees, four-year and masters-level programs.

The program, funded by the Walser Foundation, allows children and dependents of Walser employees to apply to the scholarship annually up to four years. Among other eligibility criteria, applicants are asked to submit an essay based upon one of Walser’s four core values.

“Our company leans on our core values for so many things — it’s a driver of who we are and how we do business. We’re proud to integrate these values into this new scholarship program,” Walser Foundation director Nancy Warner said in a news release.

The group highlighted that the family-focused scholarship is the latest initiative by Walser specifically focused on the notion of family. Walser chief human resources officer Sherry Schultz said the offering of family-focused benefits speaks to the wants and needs of employees.

“We know that family is a top-ranking personal core value among our employees. We know this because we’ve asked. Understanding that, we’re continually evaluating our benefits that support it. In this case, family continues to be a huge driver of our employee engagement and retention strategy,” Schultz said.

In January, Walser rolled out up to $10,000 in fertility and adoption assistance for its employees. The 27-rooftop dealer also offers four weeks of paid maternity, paternity and adoption leave.

Walser went on to mention that the onset of COVID-19 prompted the company to initiate its paid family care leave program, allowing qualifying employees two weeks of paid time off to care for sick family members.

“Diversifying our family-focused benefits is critically important. Not all Walser employees are parents to young children anymore. The Driven to Succeed Scholarship can powerfully impact children of our employees who are looking to the next step in their higher education journey,” Shultz said. “We’re incredibly proud to be a part of that.”

The Walser Foundation, which donates more than $500,000 annually to nonprofit organizations, also offers a public-facing scholarship to high school students in the places where it does business.

Thompson Organization effort to help Ukraine

On Friday, the American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA) highlighted the efforts of a Pennsylvania dealer group to help people suffering from the violence now happening in Ukraine.

AIADA said the Thompson Organization was driven to act when a church in its community put out a call for donations to send to the country impacted by the Russian invasion. Thompson asked customers and community members to join in a week-long donation drive for humanitarian aid.

From March 12-18, Thompson dealerships and service centers collected personal hygiene and baby products to be delivered to St. Anne’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Warrington, Pa.

“The turnout was overwhelming, to say the least. They were able to fill more than 40 boxes with needed supplies,” AIADA said about the Thompson Organization, which delivered the supplies in one of its full-size vans from the service department.