East Coast Auto Salvage Attends the Annual ARA Convention in Kansas City
Last Tuesday afternoon, Bill, German and I headed down to Kansas City Missouri to attend the 65th annual Automotive Recyclers Association convention. We arrived early this year to listen in on some of the committee meetings that took place on Wednesday. We were interested to see what ARA has been up to this past year and we were impressed with all that we heard. The committees deal with a myriad of important issues within the industry; everything from setting standards for used parts grading, customer service and facility operations to the legal and government issues that affect our business. Aside from these important issues the association also dedicates efforts to raising money for a scholarship foundation. We found the convention to be filled with informative sessions that will help improve the way we do business. We hope that we can put into practice all that we have learned to better service our customers. Below I have shared a few photos and some highlights from our experience at the ARA Convention 2008. 
"Women Under the Hood" Seminar - This was an outstanding presentation by three accomplished woman in the industry; Fran Reitman, Krystyn Roberts and Kelly Roepke. They all spoke of how they became involved in automotive recycling and shared their individual experiences learning how to balance work and family. As a woman in the industry I found it a particularly interesting and inspirational seminar. Like many automotive related fields, the auto recycling industry is also heavily male dominated. However several women have come along that have fought their way to be respected and have made a name for themselves. This year the incoming president will be the third woman to hold the position and all three have done exceedingly well in their own auto recycling businesses as well as brought value and progression to the association. I applaud ARA for dedicating a time for these women to share their business experiences and open up discussion about what a good industry it is to work in, whether you are male or female.
Annual Networking Dinner - The dinner was a wonderful way to end the convention and perfect way to present the succession of past ARA President Sandy Blalock to current President Linda Pitman. Not only was it a good meal and commendable awards ceremony, the ARA also took one last opportunity to raise more funds for the Scholarship Foundation. A full sized car-themed quilt made by Linda Pitman that was auctioned off in 1995 to raise money for the association was re-presented by its owner to be auctioned off that evening. Of course its value has drastically increased now that its maker is the incoming President of ARA. The former owner also agreed to match whatever price the quilt brought that evening. The winning bid was for over $12,000, which raised nearly $25,000 for the scholarship fund. I personally feel very proud to be a member of an association that not only hosts such an informative convention for people within the industry but also emphasizes the importance of education by supporting such a worthy cause.
Quilt by Linda Pitman Auctioned Off at Networking Dinner to Support ARA Scholarship Fund
About the Author: Since 1985 Taia has been hanging around East Coast. Early responsibilities included building forts out of used auto parts, calculating expense reports on the accounting calculator and bossing around the staff with her tough attitude. Things haven’t changed much except there isn’t as much time to build forts and the expense reports have gotten a bit more complicated. Taia is proud to be a woman working in the automotive recycling industry as she finds it both fun and challenging and she feels good about the role that her business plays in the reuse and recycling of automotive parts and metals.
