Car wash donation to help New Kensington's Knead Cafe upgrade kitchen equipment

Free car washes are supporting kitchen upgrades at Knead Community Cafe in New Kensington.

Clean Express Auto Wash, a new car wash that opened Dec. 28 off Tarentum Bridge Road, ran a promotion beginning Jan. 14 in which free washes were offered for 10 days in exchange for monetary donations to Knead.

Over those 10 days, they gave away 2,250 washes, said Beth Martin, vice president of marketing for parent company Express Wash Concepts, located near Columbus, Ohio. The donation total was about $9,520.

The company does fundraising for a local nonprofit upon opening new facilities, Martin said. A check presentation for Knead is being planned for mid-February.

“We are always grateful for the opportunity to leverage our grand openings to raise thousands of dollars for a local organization directly impacting the local community,” said John Roush, founder of Clean Express Auto Wash. “We thank all of our customers for being so generous, our team members for evangelizing our mission to be impactful, and know that the Knead Community Cafe will put this money to great use.”

Kevin and Mary Bode opened Knead five years ago this month. Diners are able to pay a suggested donation for meals, more if they’re able or less if they can’t, or volunteer for up to an hour in exchange for anything off the menu.

“When we found out how much they had raised for us and the number of free washes, Mary and I were just stunned, especially given the weather conditions during those 10 days,” Kevin Bode said. “For us, it also shows how generous the people of our community are even during difficult times.”

Kevin Bode said much of the donation will go toward upgrading the cafe’s kitchen equipment, some of which was left over from when the building, fronting on Barnes Street, belonged to the Sons of Italy.

Those upgrades are especially needed because the number of meals the cafe serves has grown dramatically, he said.

“There are a few things we are considering,” he said. “The biggest thing we are focusing on right now is our hood over the ovens. It still works, but it is very old and not efficient.”

“In addition, as we all know, the cost of food has gone up dramatically as well as the cost for other things like utilities, so these funds will help us with those cost increases,” Bode said.