Pocono News Section

Local Bank Offers Free Car Washes

Local Bank Offers Free Car Washes - Friday, April 24, 2009 at 5:17PM EST

WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY --Free car washes! That was the random act of kindness happening in Luzerne County Friday and you may be surprised who was offering it.
Fidelity Bank didn't ask for the publicity. We learned about it when an Eyewitness News producer had his car washed for free. And in this economy, free makes headlines. As brushes spin --customers say they win! Chuck Walter of Wilkes-Barre says “it's a great surprise to turn up to get your car washed and someone else is paying for it."

At Sparkle Brite car wash in Wilkes-Barre, Frank Cimino picks up the tab. "I'm doing a random act of kindness," he tells unsuspecting customers. "It's just trying to create a buzz within the community." And it seems to be working.

Christie Wilbur of Kingston says "I never win anything. So this is good for me." Matthew Dupcavitch of Plymouth says “I'm in the army. Nice stuff never happens to me." For two hours Friday afternoon... Frank spreads the good news. “Its nice to do something and bring a smile to someone's face."

Frank says by the end he'll have paid for 30 car washes. That's a small price to pay he says for all the good things those customers will say about Fidelity Bank." Walter says “word of mouth is a good thing. Tell how I got my car washed and a bank paid for it. Perhaps inspiring others to pay it forward. Barbara Sobeck of Wyoming says “so its up to you to do something now? Yea. I doubled the tip anyway."

A squeaky clean marketing gimmick --polishing cars and a bank's image. Fidelity has 11 branches in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties. Frank tells me each branch does some sort of random act of kindness every month.