Media Contact:
Karen Jenkins
Tele: (423) 926-9494, ext. 111
KINGSPORT, TN -- Restaurant chain founder and Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award-winner Pal Barger announced a major donation to the City of Kingsport and the Northeast State Community College Foundation today.
The donation will provide the home for an advanced automotive educational facility in downtown Kingsport, complementing the City of Kingsport’s major investment in workforce development through the Kingsport Academic Village. Barger says the donation is part of his commitment to education and his own life-long passion for learning.
“What sets Pal’s Sudden Service apart from other restaurant chains is our understanding that Pal’s is really an educational institution in its own right,” said Barger. “Every year, Pal’s helps scores of new employees learn important job skills they will use the rest of their working lives. Given the struggles all states face in funding higher education, even in good times, I understand how donations such as this one are critical to institutions like Northeast State Community College in creating similar learning opportunities for all the people of our region.”
Barger worked directly with Kingsport Mayor Dennis Phillips to craft the purchase agreement on the land and building owned by Free Service Tire and Auto Center, located at 337 West Center Street downtown. The automotive repair and maintenance facility will be transformed into a hands-on laboratory and learning facility for students enrolled in Northeast State’s automotive technology program. At the same time, the renovated facility will compliment the expansion of the new downtown educational complex.
“Pal Barger is a visionary who continues to be a key resource for our city’s future,” said Mayor Dennis Phillips. “He understands the importance of a well-educated workforce to the success of our region. Once again, Pal is showing the way, stepping up and making our region a better place to learn, live and work.”
The $400,000 donation by Barger to the Northeast State Community College Foundation enabled the purchase of the land and building from Free Service Tire and Auto Center. Free Service will continue operations at the West Center Street location for about a year, and then move its Center Street operation to a new Kingsport location.
The Center Street location will then become part of the downtown’s Academic Village that already includes the Kingsport Center for Higher Education, Regional Center for Advanced Manufacturing, Regional Center for Health Professions and Regional Center for Applied Technology.
Northeast State will renovate the existing building, where Free Service currently provides a complete line of automotive repairs and service, and add an automotive body and paint training center. The new addition to the curriculum will expand the automotive technology program, which offers associate of applied science degrees.
“I congratulate Mayor Phillips, the Board of Aldermen and Northeast State President Dr. Bill Locke for the innovation they’ve shown in making education far more accessible through the downtown Academic Village and this new automotive technology center,” Barger concluded.
In recent years Barger has donated the former Skoby’s restaurant facility on Konnorock Road to Virginia Intermont College for a culinary training program and played a key role in the construction of a new athletic field house at Dobyns-Bennett High School.
Pal’s Sudden Service is a 21-unit restaurant chain in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. The chain is the only restaurant to earn the U.S. Department of Commerce’s highest recognition for business excellence, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and is the only two-time winner of Tennessee’s Quality Excellence Award.
Karen Jenkins
Tele: (423) 926-9494, ext. 111
KINGSPORT, TN -- Restaurant chain founder and Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award-winner Pal Barger announced a major donation to the City of Kingsport and the Northeast State Community College Foundation today.
The donation will provide the home for an advanced automotive educational facility in downtown Kingsport, complementing the City of Kingsport’s major investment in workforce development through the Kingsport Academic Village. Barger says the donation is part of his commitment to education and his own life-long passion for learning.
“What sets Pal’s Sudden Service apart from other restaurant chains is our understanding that Pal’s is really an educational institution in its own right,” said Barger. “Every year, Pal’s helps scores of new employees learn important job skills they will use the rest of their working lives. Given the struggles all states face in funding higher education, even in good times, I understand how donations such as this one are critical to institutions like Northeast State Community College in creating similar learning opportunities for all the people of our region.”
Barger worked directly with Kingsport Mayor Dennis Phillips to craft the purchase agreement on the land and building owned by Free Service Tire and Auto Center, located at 337 West Center Street downtown. The automotive repair and maintenance facility will be transformed into a hands-on laboratory and learning facility for students enrolled in Northeast State’s automotive technology program. At the same time, the renovated facility will compliment the expansion of the new downtown educational complex.
“Pal Barger is a visionary who continues to be a key resource for our city’s future,” said Mayor Dennis Phillips. “He understands the importance of a well-educated workforce to the success of our region. Once again, Pal is showing the way, stepping up and making our region a better place to learn, live and work.”
The $400,000 donation by Barger to the Northeast State Community College Foundation enabled the purchase of the land and building from Free Service Tire and Auto Center. Free Service will continue operations at the West Center Street location for about a year, and then move its Center Street operation to a new Kingsport location.
The Center Street location will then become part of the downtown’s Academic Village that already includes the Kingsport Center for Higher Education, Regional Center for Advanced Manufacturing, Regional Center for Health Professions and Regional Center for Applied Technology.
Northeast State will renovate the existing building, where Free Service currently provides a complete line of automotive repairs and service, and add an automotive body and paint training center. The new addition to the curriculum will expand the automotive technology program, which offers associate of applied science degrees.
“I congratulate Mayor Phillips, the Board of Aldermen and Northeast State President Dr. Bill Locke for the innovation they’ve shown in making education far more accessible through the downtown Academic Village and this new automotive technology center,” Barger concluded.
In recent years Barger has donated the former Skoby’s restaurant facility on Konnorock Road to Virginia Intermont College for a culinary training program and played a key role in the construction of a new athletic field house at Dobyns-Bennett High School.
Pal’s Sudden Service is a 21-unit restaurant chain in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. The chain is the only restaurant to earn the U.S. Department of Commerce’s highest recognition for business excellence, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and is the only two-time winner of Tennessee’s Quality Excellence Award.
