TB HUMANITARIAN: Bud's Tire Pros owner an admitted 'soft touch'

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (Nov. 10, 2014) — Bud Luppino doesn't seem to know the word “no.”

Ask those who know him best and all will tell you a similar story: Mr. Luppino, perhaps to a fault, is not one to turn down someone in need of help.

“I have no idea what Bud gets hit up for because I think the word is out: ‘He's a soft touch,'” said Sergio Diaz, chief of police for the Riverside Police Department (RPD). “What do you need, a couple hundred bucks? A set of tires? A kidney?”

The owner of Bud's Tire & Wheel Inc., which does business as Bud's Tire Pros, in Riverside, has been an active contributor to charitable causes in nearly two decades in business. He has donated time, energy, money — and yes, even one of his own organs — in the name of helping his fellow man. His involvement in organizations such as Kiwanis Club, The Arc of Riverside County, The Unforgettables Foundation and the Janet Goeske Foundation & Senior Center, among others, has generated upwards of $1 million in charitable donations over the last 19 years.

For his dedication to supporting various charitable causes, Mr. Luppino has accumulated numerous accolades and honors, the most recent of which is the 2014 Tire Business Tire Dealer Humanitarian Award.

Mr. Luppino was presented with the award Nov. 3 at the Tire Industry Association's annual Tire Industry Honors event during the 2014 Specialty Equipment Market Association Show in Las Vegas. He is the 21st recipient of the Humanitarian Award, the winner of which is judged and selected each year by the United Way of Summit County, Ohio, volunteer services committee.

Mr. Luppino was presented a special medal symbolizing the spirit of giving and Tire Business donated $1,250 each to two charities he selected — The Unforgettables Foundation and The Arc of Riverside County.

Mike Stong, a close friend of Mr. Luppino and long-time member of the same Kiwanis International chapter, said his “biggest generosity” over the years has come in the form of his time.

“I don't know everything he does specifically with other organizations, but I do know how involved he is with other organizations, and I know how often he gets recognition for all his efforts and sacrifices,” Mr. Stong said. “He's got businesses to run and he's a grandfather and all that implies. He's involved in these organizations and his business — it's a lot of time.

“He's probably got some long days, but I don't know that he could not have something going on like that,” he added. “I think he has a problem saying no, but it's coming from a good heart and a desire to help. And that's the beginning of anything good.”

For Mr. Luppino, his reasons for focusing so much on giving back come down to two things.

“One, because there's a need, and the second is because we all have to do something,” he told Tire Business. “All you can do is all you can do, but all you can do is enough. If there's a need and we have the resources to be able to do something, then we're going to do everything we can.”

Mr. Luppino said his giving nature is a “natural inborn thing” and he credits his mother Laura Luppino for fostering that in him. He added that he believes God put people on Earth to help each other.

“It's like I live in a bubble compared to what's happening in the world, and then when I see what other people are going through, I say, ‘Wow, how can I not do it?'

“I feel like my purpose is to help everybody I can with what I can,” he said, adding that although one must be discriminating in evaluating needs, “when you see people who've sacrificed so much to do so much for their family with so little, you have to say, ‘Yes.' I don't give it a thought.”

“Compassion is not quantitative. Certainly it is true that behind every human being who cries out for help there may be a million or more equally entitled to attention. But this is the poorest of all reasons for not helping the person whose cries you hear….” — Norman Cousins

Jim Stream, executive director for The Arc of Riverside County, a private, non-profit group serving people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities, often uses this quote from the late Mr. Cousins — American political journalist, author, professor and world peace advocate — as part of his pitch to get people involved with his charity.

“That's kind of indicative of what people who have empathy and have a caring personality, is that if they see the good cause it's not like they have to say, ‘OK, this is the charity I support,'” he said. “They see something and they see a need and they go ahead and fill it.”

He described Mr. Luppino as that type of person.

“I can't tell you how much he's meant to us as an agency as far as just contributing to everything we do,” Mr. Stream said. “We have one or two fundraisers a year. He's always involved in that—always donating tires, donating wheels, donating different things into live auctions and silent auctions, and it's just been a very good relationship for us.”

Mr. Stream began taking his own car to Bud's Tire Pros in 1996, about a year after the dealership opened in Riverside.

“I was here as executive director at that time, and we started taking some of our vehicles over there,” he said. “And we weren't necessarily doing real well as a charity at that time. Our budget was being cut and things like that. (Bud) started discounting our invoices and started giving us free stuff because he knew what we're all about here.”

In 2001, Mr. Stream invited Mr. Luppino to join The Arc as a member of its board of directors, a role in which he still serves. He also is the treasurer of the organization.

According to Messrs. Luppino and Stream, The Arc offers a variety of services to people with disabilities, ranging from employment opportunities, such as assembly work and packaging, to a summer camp program for children with special needs and a universally accessible playground the group helped bring to Riverside.

Part of Mr. Luppino's decision to come on board stems from personal experience, as he has two cousins in Buffalo, N.Y., with intellectual disabilities.

“When I saw what they were doing, and I saw what Jim was doing here, I said, ‘I can't help people in Buffalo. I can, but I can't be there,'” Mr. Luppino said. “But I can be here, and I'm going to do what I can, when I can, to help this organization.”

When Judith Vails, executive director for the Janet Goeske Foundation & Senior Center approached Mr. Luppino about participating in Riverside's annual Dancing with the Stars – Inland Empire Edition, she wasn't too subtle about it.

“A lot of people, when they see me coming around the months of December and January, they go the other way,” she joked about the charity event, which sees local community leaders participating in an annual dance-off to support senior citizens in the community. “They don't even return my call during those two months.”

She speculated that avoidance might stem from her tendency to inform people of their participation rather than request it.

Mr. Luppino got the call-to-action from Ms. Vails during a Valentine's Day dinner event earlier this year.

“She told me, ‘We just printed up the fliers for the Dancing with the Stars Riverside, and I wanted to let you know that your picture came out really good,'” Mr. Luppino said. “I said, ‘Really? Why's our picture on there?' She said, ‘Well, you're one of the couples.' That's how we got volunteered to do it.”

Philanthropy is second nature to Mr. Luppino, but at the time dancing was another story.

“I had never danced a step in my life,” he admitted, but he wasn't one to turn down a challenge.

“We decided if we're going to compete, we're going to compete,” he said. “If I'm going to invest this time and money, I want to win this thing.”

For the next two months and over the course of 100 hours, Mr. Luppino and his wife Claudia — a former dance instructor herself — practiced their routine. The dance lessons were offered free by D&D's Dance Center in Riverside.

“It speaks to who he is,” Ms. Vails said. “He'll go outside that comfort zone to help his community, and that's what he did for the seniors.”

The pair went on to win the competition, which took place April 26, though Ms. Vails said the victory was determined more by the amount of funds each couple raised. The Luppinos brought in about $25,000 for the Janet Goeske Foundation. The event raised a total of more than $160,000.

“Philanthropy is part of the nature of some people, and it is certainly a part of Bud,” she said. “He and his wife both came out and raised considerable funds for the Janet Goeske Foundation.”

As for the Luppinos, they are continuing to take dance lessons.

“It's amazing how you can go through 45 years of marriage and look at somebody and not really see them until you're holding them six inches off the ground,” he said. “You see something different.”

It's not the only area in which Mr. Luppino has stepped outside of his comfort zone, joining the board of directors at Riverside Community Hospital last year. Having no prior experience in the healthcare industry, he was quick to become engaged, according to the hospital's President and CEO Patrick Brilliant.

“He clearly is an avid learner,” Mr. Brilliant said. “Hospitals can be complex businesses, so to speak...and right at the beginning he talked about, ‘I need some literature, I need to read some things, I need to learn a little bit more about what healthcare is and what role hospitals play in that.'”

As a result of Mr. Luppino's questions and “thirst for knowledge,” Mr. Brilliant said the hospital has begun providing periodicals to its board members on a routine basis so they can keep track of what's happening in the industry.

Mr. Brilliant said he was impressed with how fast Mr. Luppino adapted to his role as a board member because, unlike many of the other boards on which Mr. Luppino participates, the hospital's is an “ongoing enterprise.”

“It's not your typical charity kind of thing where you're on the board for the March of Dimes or the American Heart Association or something along those lines where your primary role is fundraising,” he said. “In healthcare, and particularly hospitals, you're dealing with life and death stuff every day. I see the best and the worst of humanity all in the same day.

“Death, suffering, pain — it doesn't get any darker. A new child coming into this world—it doesn't get any brighter than that,” he said. “And everything in between occurs in these facilities each and every day.

“…Yes, it's a business in many respects, but it's a very different kind of business,” he added. “There's a lot of emotion involved, there are people who are here who don't want to be here. They are our customers, but they didn't come here voluntarily necessarily.”

Still, Mr. Luppino sees some similarities to the tire business.

“We deal with life and death, too,” he said. “…Not in the same role, but we have to be critical of our employees and make sure they're doing their job right all the time.

“There are some similarities,” he continued. “We have to deal with customers, and no one comes to our place because they want to. ‘I want to go buy a set of tires today.' No, I don't think so. We're a grudge purchase. It happens at the worst time (and) it's a financial burden.

“People come to hospitals not because they want to, but because they have to, and we have to make that experience as best as we possibly can.”

As a father himself, many of Mr. Luppino's charitable contributions revolve around helping children and families in his local community.

The organization that he said is the closest to his heart is The Unforgettables Foundation, a nonprofit group that assists families coping with the death of a child.

Tim Evans, who founded the organization in 1999 after serving for a number of years as a chaplain at a children's hospital, said he created the group to enable low-income families to provide their children with a dignified burial. The organization has helped more than 5,000 families.

“I think everyone who works in clinical settings, be they a physician, a nurse, social worker, respiratory therapist, any kind of therapist all the way down the line recognizes the need for this,” Mr. Evans said.

“So do teachers, so do law enforcement, but the whole issue of children dying is such a gut-level, visceral shock to the system kind of occasion that everyone knows about it, recognizes it and steps back from it.

“It's been some very brave people who've joined me in saying you never fix a problem until you confront a problem.”

He and Mr. Luppino first met about a decade ago when Mr. Evans spoke about his charity in front of the Kiwanis club to which Mr. Luppino belonged and the tire dealer “immediately radiated to the cause,” according to Mr. Evans.

Since then, Mr. Luppino has served on the group's board of directors and been a regular donor to families using the organization's services. He is a past recipient of the group's Unforgettable Hearts Award.

“Bud has been a great asset, not only as a donor, but as a voice and an advocate,” Mr. Evans said. “Having someone of his stature in the community to join my board, speak out to tell people, it sends a message of validation about the cause. He's using some of his community credibility and some of the good will and prestige that he's built up over the years through his business to lend a small charity some of that to help us get established.”

Like several of the charities Mr. Luppino supports, he had a personal connection.

Before he opened his own dealership, in order to make extra money Mr. Luppino worked part time selling insurance. His first claim, he said, was for the death of an 18-month-old child who belonged to a friend of his daughter. The child's death tore the family apart.

“The family is broken up, they get a divorce, the child is dead, there's nothing left and I've got to come in there and say, ‘I'm sorry about the loss of your 18-month-old kid. Here's $10,000. Maybe this will help.'

“It doesn't help, no matter how much it is,” he said. “It could've been $1 million—it wouldn't make any difference. It was over with, and when that happens, your life fundamentally changes forever. You don't look at things the same.”

Mr. Luppino supports various other youth programs in the Riverside and nearby Moreno Valley communities, sponsoring organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America, which his three grandsons are a part of, and Prevent Child Abuse Riverside County.

One frequent beneficiary of his donations is the Riverside Police Foundation, which was established in 2012 to support the RPD's various youth programs, including Opportunities With Education, a juvenile intervention and prevention program; the RPD Explorer Post, for youth who are interested in careers in law enforcement; and the Riverside Youth Court early intervention program for first-time offenders of misdemeanors.

“I happen to know from Bud's generosity with the foundation, and not just with the Police Foundation, but with other organizations in town that are trying to do good things, he's very charitable,” Mr. Diaz said. “It's hard to go to an event in town where you can't bid on a set of tires from Bud's Tire Pros.”

One of the programs supported by the foundation is the Riverside Youth Judo Club, founded two years ago by RPD Detective Brian Money. The program, Mr. Diaz said, has grown to about 100 students.

One former member of the judo club was Anthony Carrillo, who Mr. Diaz said had the most troubling home life imaginable.

In spite of this, Mr. Carrillo, now 18, was nearly a straight-A student in school and participated in several sports. He expressed an interest in attending the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., but needed help getting there. Mr. Luppino stepped up to the plate.

“This is away from his many organized charitable things,” Mr. Diaz said. “Here's a single individual who needed his help, and Bud and others came through.

“It was basic things as this: Anthony wears glasses,” he continued. “He had a pair of glasses held together with tape, hadn't been to the optometrist in a long time. Anthony of course never had a suit and tie, and the effort to get him into the Naval Academy involved formal interviews and such.

“A lot of people contributed money to get Anthony outfitted — suits and sport coats and underwear, a new set of glasses — things our kids would take for granted. It's relatively small details that add up to a lot of money after a while.”

In addition, Rod Ballance, an adviser for the dealership and a military veteran who assists Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside, in selecting nominations for service academies, helped coach Mr. Carrillo on preparing for his formal interview.

Mr. Carrillo eventually was accepted into the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, R.I., but he couldn't afford to get there. Mr. Luppino came through again, offering to cover his airfare.

“(Mr. Luppino's) efforts go beyond the organized stuff,” Mr. Diaz said. “Giving donations and auctions for institutions and programs, but then there's individuals like this. There's no tax write-off for helping Anthony get to Rhode Island or helping him buy a suit and clothes, but that's the kind of thing he does.”

Through his dealership and his involvement in Kiwanis International, Mr. Luppino also has supported several local schools over the years.

Before it merged with the Uptown Riverside Kiwanis Club in 2011, the Arlington Kiwanis Club — the original club to which he belonged — started a Christmas giveaway program.

“The principal would come to us and identify four families who were really having issues financially, and there wasn't going to be Christmas, bottom line, at their house,” Mr. Luppino said. “We as a club took our money and bought a tree, ornaments, gifts, food, everything that you would ever imagine for Christmas for these families.

“We would show up at their doorstep on the Friday before Christmas and present them with Christmas,” he said. “When you look at these families—and I've been blessed, we've all been very blessed in our lives—and you go to somebody who has five kids and they're living in a garage, you don't know what to say…. These people are so happy because we gave them a box of food and a tree. It's so humbling to be able to do that.”

The Uptown Riverside Kiwanis Club does not offer the same Christmas program, but instead donates 150 turkeys and meals during Thanksgiving. They are distributed to families between four elementary schools that the group sponsors.

In addition, the club provides dictionaries to every third grader in Riverside, and members go to the schools to pass them out to each child, said Mr. Stong, the outgoing president of the club.

“In some cases the only book that kid has is that dictionary,” he said. “The fact that we've done it for so long, it's almost institutionalized in the thinking of the students. Second graders are going, ‘All these guys got something. I'm gonna get something next year.'”

Separately, Bud's Tire Pros has participated in a number of giveaway programs through local schools, many based on attendance.

Judy White, superintendent for the Moreno Valley Unified School District, wrote a letter to Tire Business recommending Mr. Luppino for the 2014 Tire Dealer Humanitarian Award due to his support of perfect attendance programs at the Moreno and TownGate Elementary Schools.

“Mr. Luppino gives tremendous support to Moreno and TownGate Elementary Schools by supporting each school's perfect attendance programs,” she wrote. “Not only does he donate his time, but he also donates incentives for drawings which are held each month. He has even sponsored one lucky family's trip to Disneyland.”

One of Mr. Luppino's favorite stories is about a student from Mountain View Elementary School in Riverside who won a bicycle for perfect attendance.

“This one boy, he never had a bike in his life,” he said. “He was probably in sixth grade, perfect attendance, never missed a minute of school and he was selected. This kid comes running up out of the crowd, the bike is there, he gets on the bike and rides away. He went home to show his mom the bike that he had won.”

Bud's Tire Pros recently partnered with Community Connect, a nonprofit group in Riverside County that helps low-income community members in a variety of capacities, including housing, transportation and professional development. Through that organization, Bud's Tire Pros has sponsored the Ben Clymer's Car Giveaway, which provides one deserving Moreno Valley family with a car, one year of paid insurance and DMV fees and a trunk full of groceries.

Mr. Luppino is an active supporter of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and was honored in 2012 as the recipient of its Father of the Year Award after raising more than $130,000 for the association that year.

While many are aware of Mr. Luppino's contributions to the ADA, few know that his older brother Don Luppino was a juvenile diabetic, diagnosed at 14-years-old.

For many years, Mr. Luppino said, his brother didn't take care of himself the way he should have.

“He was a brick layer, and in Pennsylvania you know how the weather is—some days you work, some days you don't work,” he said. “So depending on how bad it was, he'd just take an extra-long insulin or he wouldn't take enough, so it was all screwed up.

“…By the time he was 47 or 48 he only had one kidney and that one was shutting down,” he continued. “He had no choice. He was so far down the list he wouldn't get a kidney, and he didn't want to go to dialysis.”

At his daughter's wedding, Mr. Luppino's brother told him he was dying and needed a kidney. And for Mr. Luppino, it was an easy decision. “It's one of those things,” he said. “A guy comes to you and says he's got less than a year to live. What do you do?”

His wife, he said, wasn't initially a fan of his choice to donate a kidney.

“‘What if your daughter needs a kidney and you're the only one who can do it?' Well I'm not selling tickets to that event,” he said. “I've got one in front of me, and I've got a ringside seat. I'm in.

“…She looked way down the road at the potential and what possibly could happen and the potential downside for Nicole and our grandkids,” he added. “I only saw this. You just do it — the rest is God's responsibility. He's gonna deal the cards out, we're going to play them, that's the hand I got and to heck with it.”

The donation process was a test in itself, delayed at first because his brother didn't have insurance. After working that out, the first surgery appointment was cancelled because the surgeon and anesthesiologist scheduled to handle the procedure were injured in a skiing accident.

Eventually the surgery took place. Nearly two decades later Mr. Luppino's brother is alive and well, he said, and has been taking better care of himself.