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It’s been almost 20 years since Spencer Young Sr. and his wife Sherry created the Young Caring for Our Young Foundation, a nonprofit arm of the Young Automotive Group based in Layton. Their idea was simple: partner with employees and volunteers from the community to resolve issues of clothing needs, hunger, literacy and teen homelessness.
Their efforts have helped tens of thousands of children and adults, as each of their auto locations donated at least $10,000 to the foundation and the organization began hosting more than 50 events a year.
“They started with school supplies and backpacks in 2006, which they knew would make a difference,” said Tami Olson, who just retired after more than 20 years working for the Young Automotive Group. “They knew that was impactful, but they wanted to do more. They knew that while school was an important part of kids’ lives, those kids can’t learn if they’re hungry, or if they’re wearing an older brother’s worn-out shoes that don’t fit. We really wanted to make sure they could thrive educationally and live beyond the cycle of poverty as they moved through school.”
So that led to the Young’s creation of the KIND Fund in 2022 (standing for Kids in Need). Working with community partners and educators, the fund has provided over $7 million to local foundations and philanthropic initiatives, such as the Bountiful Food Pantry. That money doesn’t stay at Young; the dealerships donate to cover their own operational costs.
“The money goes directly to food, to clothing and to teacher support,” Olson said. “When someone writes us a $10,000 check, we’re buying $10,000 worth of food, clothing or supplies. We’ve been able to grow that to a level where we donate over $1 million a year. That’s meant meals for 42,000 kids over a two-year period, 2,000 books and supplies, and over 1,200 homeless teens and young parents helped. And each year since 2022, we’ve provided school clothing for over 7,000 children.”
Working with their partners, Young’s KIND Fund has given more than $6 million to local education foundations and philanthropic initiatives. As the program has grown, so has its reach. Today 16 school districts in Utah and Idaho are recipients of help from the KIND Fund.
One particularly successful program is creation of pantry packs. These packs include two meals, two breakfasts, a drink packet, fruit snacks, granola bars, crackers and a fruit pouch, along with a cheerful “note” expressing love and best wishes for the student getting the pack. At an event held June 21 in Bountiful, volunteers worked with Young employees to assemble nearly 4,000 packs in just over three hours. During the 2024-25 school year, the Bountiful Food Pantry distributed 137,580 pantry packs in Davis County schools, or about 4,000 a week. So the park project accounted for a week’s worth of packs for hungry students. About 27 percent of students in the Davis District qualify for free or reduced lunches. The Young team does more than 22,000 pantry packs a year at various events.
Olson said the program also helps Young Automotive employees, who can see both the need and the value of assistance given to recipients.
“We want to get our employees engaged in how we give back,” she said. “It’s one thing to write a check, but it’s quite different to show our employees what that money can do, and it becomes easy to get an army involved in every initiative we take on. They become more enlightened and more passionate about our causes and about helping those in need.”