Deal Days are back. From now until Nov. 30, five local car dealerships are donating $30 for every car sold to the United Way of Selma and Dallas County.

Jeff Cothran, executive director of the United Way of Selma and Dallas County, said the dealerships have raised around $4,000 to $5,000 in previous years during Deal Days.

“Deal Days is an event that we started off with cooperation from the car dealers a few years back. For [November], every vehicle they sell, they contribute $30 to the united way,” Cothran said.

“We need the support of all the businesses in town and the car dealers have always been so supportive of the United Way and especially through the Deal Days event. We’re happy to be able to promote people doing business locally and then these local business in turn supporting the United Way, a local charity.”

Deal Days is part of United Way’s overall campaign, which ends Dec. 31.

During last year’s campaign, more than $300,000 was raised.

“We are right at $246,000 so far for this year’s campaign, and that puts us right at $80,000 to exceed our goal of last year,” Cothran said. “We are about 76 percent toward our goal of exceeding what we raised last year. We truly are trying to push past that.”

The local United Way is partners with the American Red Cross, Selma-Dallas County YMCA, SABRA Sanctuary, Salvation Army, Bosco Nutrition Center, Special Years Plus, Special Pre-School Program, Cahaba Center Easter Seal, Selma AIR, Literacy Outreach Program, Selma Area Food Bank, Tukabatchee Council of the Boy Scouts, South Central Council of the Girl Scouts and the Central Alabama Regional Child Advocacy Center.

It also provides three direct service programs. The programs are HealthLink, a prescription drug assistance program, Doc In A Bus, a medical clinic for the uninsured and a diabetic monitoring program.

“We just have such great need in our community, and we’ve been working for years and years to reach out and meet that need to solve problems,” Cothran said.

“It’s a big mission that we do. And people by making one donation, they’re supporting 15 different charities. That’s the cool part about United Way. Your one gift is supporting 15 different charities doing hundreds of different things.”

Cothran said Deal Days is just another way that the community shows support for the United Way, and he is thankful for the dealerships and their contributions.

“We’re constantly looking for new partnerships around the community where we can solve problems and make Selma and Dallas County a better place to live,” Cothran said. “It’s absolutely vital. We cannot do what we do without the support of the community.”

The participating dealerships are Moore Stewart Ford, Moore Stewart Honda, Turner Motor Company, Reliable Cadillac GMC and Steve Lane Autos.

“It just shows the support we have with the community and the business community at large and how they support the United Way,” Cothran said. “We just need everybody in the community that want to support these partner agencies and to support the services that they’re providing to make a contribution to United Way.”

Donations for the United Way can be mailed to P.O. Box 298 Selma, AL 36701, or via PayPal through selmaunitedway.org.