Priority Auto Group

Priorities for Change

Priorities for Change



You might already know Priority Automotive sponsors dozens of local charities every year. Take a minute to hear their stories. And find out how you can get involved.





Cars Are Not Our Only Priority



Cars Are Not Our Only Priority

The Priority family of dealerships sells thousands of vehicles across Virginia and North Carolina every year. But it’s the community that drives us. That’s why every year Priority Automotive reinvests hundreds of thousands of dollars back into the community through our support of many local charitable organizations.








Priority Automotive President Dennis Ellmer believes we can all be change agents in our community.





Priorities for Change Recipients
Priorities for Change Around the Community





How one career-ending injury helped thousands get back on their feet

Todd Walker had it going. Full football scholarship at Indiana University. Four nationally televised bowl games. A free agent contract with the Denver Broncos that had him catching passes from John Elway. And then, boom. A career-ending injury he never saw coming. His NFL career was done almost as soon as it started. “I had to make a decision,” Walker remembers. “The Lord spoke to me and said, ‘Everybody that helped you achieve all that success, I need you to go back and do that for somebody else.’” So he did. And he’s been doing it ever since. Today, Todd Walker is the executive director of the Judeo-Christian Outreach Center in Virginia Beach, devoting his life to helping the hungry, homeless and local veterans in need. Priority Automotive is proud to support Todd and the Judeo-Christian Outreach Center with an annual financial contribution.


The Cause

The JCOC’s mission is to help families and individuals recover from crisis situations and become productive, self-supporting members of the community. The organization and its team of volunteers provide more than 86,000 free meals and 9,000 free bags of groceries every year. The organization also provides transitional housing for homeless veterans, cold-weather shelters for the homeless, and a day program that allows people take a shower, do laundry and apply for housing, education and employment services to get back on their feet.


How Priority Helps

Football wasn’t Todd Walker’s only Priority. Just like selling cars isn’t ours. The Judeo-Christian Outreach Center is a beneficiary of the annual Priority Toyota Charity Bowl which raised more than $400,000 last year.







The clock was running out on the Charity Bowl. Priority saved the game.

Ray Potter has never missed a Charity Bowl in 50 years, all the way back to the first game in 1968. In those days, it was a charity tackle game played by former high school and college football players on Thanksgiving Day. All the money they raised went to the Joy Fund to buy Christmas presents for underprivileged kids. But as time went on, interest in the game waned. Potter and his friends were raising less and less money. And the clock was running out.

“We were at the end of the rope. We weren’t raising money and we were just about to give up,” Potter recalls. Then his friend and former Norfolk State football standout Orlando Goodhope had an idea. He worked at Priority Automotive, and he knew President Dennis Ellmer had a big heart. Maybe he could help?

Touchdown. Ellmer loved the idea, moved the game to the spring, and turned the newly named “Priority Toyota Charity Bowl” into a celebrity touch football game. It’s been a winner for local kids ever since.


The Cause

Every day, children’s charity organizations all over Hampton Roads work tirelessly to make life better for kids who need our help the most. They often do it on shoestring budgets, relying on the dedication and help of staff and a team of volunteers. Their efforts make a profound difference in our communities and the lives of our children, and they deserve our help. By raising money and promoting the designated charities, the Priority Toyota Charity Bowl manages to infuse much-needed cash into the bank accounts of these wonderful organizations.


How Priority Helps

Priority covers the entire cost of hosting the annual Charity Bowl at Old Dominion University, including all planning, fundraising, entertainment and marketing. Last year, the $442,000 raised through the annual celebrity touch football game went to 35 different local children’s charities that protect the health, safety and future of our most vulnerable kids.







For animal lovers, finding homes for homeless pets is always a Priority.

Puppies and kittens don’t stay in animal shelters very long. They’re cute, cuddly and easily adopted. Adult pets have a much harder time finding homes. They can sit weeks or months in the shelter waiting for someone to love. But everytime it happens, it brings tears to Kate Baldwin’s eyes. “The longer that they’re here it tugs on the heartstrings,” says the outreach director at the Virginia Beach SPCA. “And so the days when they’re adopted is really special. Staff goes to the front and they announce it over the loudspeaker and we all come down an applaud and most of us cry. Watching that happen is a special thing.” In recent years, Priority Automotive has worked to make those special moments occur more often. Every Christmas, Priority covers half the adoption fees to make it easier for people to adopt pets during the holidays.


The Cause

Priority Automotive believes that every pet deserves a great life. Yet every year, thousands of pets find themselves cooped up in local animal shelters for reasons too long to list. For these non-profit shelters in our area, it’s a huge challenge just to pay staff and keep the lights on, let alone buy food, provide veterinary care, and coordinate an army of dedicated volunteers. When it comes to animal welfare there’s always a need, and there’s always a way to help. Priority Automotive does just that, and encourages you to do the same.


How Priority Helps

Each holiday season, Priority donates $40,000 to four area shelters. The money is used to pay half of the fees for individuals and families who want to adopt adult pets during the holidays. Last year, the effort helped shelters in Chesapeake, Newport News, Norfolk and Virginia Beach find homes for more than 400 animals in less than two weeks. In Newport News alone, the 105 animals adopted were the highest number of adoptions recorded at the Peninsula SPCA during any month in 2018.







Some called them second-class citizens. Priority gave them a second chance.

Jerry Baker never expected a second chance. At 53, Baker was once again locked up in Norfolk City Jail with little hope of making an honest living when he got out. “When you return to society the opportunities are limited,” he says. “A second chance like this is unthinkable.” This is a new partnership between Priority Automotive, the Norfolk Sheriff’s Office and Tidewater Community College, and a new program that is training repeat offenders in the Norfolk City Jail as auto mechanics. After completing the 2-year TCC program, Baker and 14 other inmates will earn a full-time job at one of Priority’s 14 dealerships upon their release. “This program is a game changer. It transitioned me into a different person before I even enter into society,” Baker said. “So now I’m working on this new person and feeling good about this new person and and want to continue with this new person. I want to show my family and my kids that at any age you can learn, you can change. Anything is possible.”


The Cause

Jail recidivism is a problem that plagues communities from coast to coast. With few opportunities to make an honest living, non-violent offenders like Jerry Baker often resort to old habits when they’re released. And wind up right back in jail. The new Priority inmate automotive training program is designed to put an end to the social and financial costs that stem from jail recidivism. Consider: It costs Norfolk taxpayers an average of $26,000 just to house a single offender for one year. “What we know is over 96% of our offenders are coming back into our community,” Norfolk Sheriff Joe Baron said. “We also know former offenders are less likely to return to jail if they have gainful employment at the time of their release. What Priority is doing here is nothing short of life changing for these inmates.”


How Priority Helps

Priority Automotive spent more than $1.7 million to build a state-of-the-art automotive training facility in Chesapeake and funds the entire cost of the 2-year certified program through Tidewater Community College. Two years in the making, the training center includes 12 modern repair bays, where the employees work side-by-side with Priority mechanics and TCC instructors to diagnose problems and repair vehicles according to strict manufacturer standards. Trainees are promised full-time jobs at Priority when they are released, with the opportunity to continue their education, earn new certifications and even earn an associate’s degree from TCC.




Employee Volunteer Program


Employee Volunteer Program

Join Priority to help our local community!

Our “Priorities for Change” employee volunteer program strives to make a positive social impact on our community by encouraging Priority team members to discover areas of need within our community, developing a volunteer program to add-on charitable funding and encourage volunteerism among Priority team members, promoting Priority’s philanthropic practices at a corporate level, recognizing Priority team members for their hard work and commitment, and signing up to join “Priorities for Change” today and make a difference. Contact Us To Learn More:



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Priorities for Change