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SALT LAKE CITY — Raised by a single mom, Tim Semple has experienced the financial struggle and wants to give back to other single moms.
Semple, who owns a small car dealership, Rev Motoring, went on a date with a single mom, and called his stepdad to ask what it was like for him to meet his mom when she was single and raising two kids.
He learned the first time his stepdad took his mom on a date, he took her to the grocery store and bought her a cart full of groceries after seeing they had "like no food," Semple said.
Hearing that story brought tears to Semple's eyes, and he told his stepdad that because he was so kind to them, Semple would give $100 to a single mom in the Salt Lake area every time he sells a car.
"... I just thought it'd be a cool way to kind of give back and just make someone's day," Semple said.
Semple has been doing this since January of 2014 and said he's sold probably 33 cars this year.
In the spring, he'll add thin mint Girl Scout cookies to his giveaways.
He doesn't use the giveaways as a sales technique, but he asks the customer who buys the car to choose a number between 1 and 20 after they make their purchase.
He then puts a call out on his Facebook page for Salt Lake area single moms to guess a number between 1 and 20. Whoever guesses the right number gets the money.
If no one guesses the right number within the first 24 hours, Semple will double the money for the next sale.
Others have also reached out to make donations.
Recently, one of his friends told him he would match a $200 donation, so the two gave $400 to one single mom who was going to Haiti to volunteer in an orphanage for a couple of weeks.
"It's fun, and then the more you do it, the more addicting, and now I'm more excited about after I sell the car than actually selling the car and making money on the car," Semple said.
Maddie Rogers, a single mom, has won the money twice. She said it has made a huge difference, because she won it when she was just barely short on rent and couldn't afford diapers.
"I was just really grateful, honestly, he is just the nicest guy ever," Rogers said. "And he was raised by a single mom, and so it's just nice knowing that maybe what I'm doing isn't a failure if guys like that can grow up and be so generous being raised by a single mom."
