For the fourth straight year, Scott’s U-Save Tires and Auto Repair is hosting a contest for charities.

The idea is simple.

People go online and choose a charity and the company doles out the money to those charities.

Scott’s has locations in Steger, New Lenox, Schererville, Indiana and Crown Point, Indiana. 

Chief Operating Officer Brad Templin said that his business has several customers from Beecher and Manhattan.

It’s a good idea, but not original.

“I have to be honest, I saw this idea from an HVAC company,” Templin said. “I thought it was a cool idea.

“We have a focus every year to do what we can for food and security and for children. Those are our big community outreach pieces.”

As customers visit the auto repair’s website at www.scottsusave.com, they are prompted to vote for one of 12 local charities. Each of Scott’s U-Save’s four locations selected charitable organizations in their respective communities to participate in the fundraising event. The charities are competing based upon the number of votes they receive.

Each first-place charity will earn a $750 donation, every second-place $500, and all third-place charities receive a $250 donation.

“Everybody gets excited for it,” Templin said.

People can vote through Dec. 31.

Templin said that usually a few thousand people vote in the contest.

The Steger location selected St. Liborius Food Pantry Community Outreach, Alicia’s

House, and Friends of the Library as their three contestants. These three organizations impact thousands in the area, according to Templin.

The New Lenox location charities are Morningstar Mission, New Lenox District 122 PTO and ShareFest.

Organizations participating in the event in the Schererville shop are Bibich Elementary and Grimmer Middle Schools along with Planting Possibilities. 

The Crown Point location is a battle between God’s Groceries, Phil’s Friends, and Community Help Network.

Scott’s owner Sheri Templin cherishes the role her company plays in helping out these charities.

“Giving back to the communities that we serve is just a small token of our gratitude for the loyalty and decades of support shown to our organization for over four decades,” she said in a news release. “All 12 of these organizations show exemplary compassion and selflessness every day they operate. We look forward to (seeing) how voting turns out these last few weeks.”