NELA Hosts Annual Chauffeur Appreciation Day

Members of NELA working during Chauffeur Appreciation Day | July 17th Boston, MA Boston —The New England Livery Association (NELA) held its 14th annual Chauffeur Appreciation Day at Boston’s Logan International Airport limo pool on July 17. Sponsors included Acton Toyota of Littletown, Allied Technologies, Dav El/BostonCoach, Gullotti Insurance Agency, and Sullivan Tire & Auto Repair.

The event, which featured free food, live music, and raffles for Red Sox tickets, as well as car-maintenance services from Sullivan Tire, is NELA’s way of showing its “appreciation to the front-line employees of our members,” according to the association’s CEO Rick Szilagyi, who says that “support for the event is incredible,” citing Tina Benson of L.A. Limousine Service and BostonCoach’s Rick Cavalieri and Joe Puleo as being particularly stand-out assets in making sure this year’s event was another resounding success.

“We had 15 people at every 30-minute time slot throughout the day, so it’s not even an issue of having the support,” Szilagyi says. “The board is there, as well as other people who are members who want to volunteer to work that day. There’s actually a battle over who gets to do the grilling.”

Chauffeur Appreciation Day began as a cookout with “a couple of grills and paper plates” and slowly grew to include tents and a food truck run by Benson’s father. It now features an assembled-on-site plywood storefront façade, behind which sit two professional-sized grills. The event continues with Logan International’s blessing and assistance, and it served up close to 1,000 hotdogs, hamburgers and sausages this year, providing every hungry chauffeur who passed through the Boston airport with “a meal or two.”

“It’s just a very upbeat, wonderful event every year,” Szilagyi says. “It’s just a really fun time, and there’s just no shortage of volunteers who want to be involved and help.”

NELA’s next quarterly membership meeting will be September 9.

Visit nelivery.com for more information.

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