Donnie once again showed his generosity by helping a man buy a car at a dealership in St Charles, IL! Here is an article:
Chicago man gets birthday surprise from Donnie Wahlberg
By TOI.News- September 30, 2022
Chicago resident Gerson Rosario recently celebrated his 26th birthday and received a gift of money and kindness that he is unlikely to forget.
A few days before his actual September 16 birthday, Rosario traveled to St. Charles and the Fox Valley Volkswagen Store at 4050 E. Main St. in search of what he called his “dream car.”
“About a week earlier, my car was totaled. I previously had an older Subaru SUV. I loved the car, I love the brand, I fell in love with the Subaru,” Rosario said. “I was looking for this car. This has been my dream car since I was young. I looked online and there was this color, this car – everything drew me to this dealership.”
The dream car turned out to be a 2019 Subaru WRX with 47,000 miles on the odometer, and as young Rosario worked out the deal, another person visiting the dealership generously intervened.
“Donnie Wahlberg and his wife Jenny McCarthy live here in St. Charles and he (Donnie) drives a vehicle that I sold him,” said St. Charles resident Emir Abinion, 58, CEO of Fox Valley Auto Group which also owns Volkswagen, GMC, and a Buick dealership. “They both filmed a commercial for me here and Donnie happened to stop by and spoke to Mr. Rosario while he was here.”
Rosario confirmed that Wahlberg did indeed approach him and asked if he was planning on buying the 2019 Subaru.
“He (Wahlberg) just started this conversation and I was on Facetime with my brother asking about him (Wahlberg) because he looked so familiar. I was so excited – I mean, this was my dream car,” said Rosario. “He said to me, ‘Are you interested in this car? What do you want in return? Did they start talking about numbers?’ and I said they wanted $29,500 and he asked what I was willing to pay for it.”
Rosario told the recording star, actor, film and music producer he hopes to get “about $2,000 off” and believes “there’s some leeway” when Wahlberg showered him with an offer of a lifetime.
“Donnie said, ‘What if I gave you $4,500? That’s how the dealership still makes its $29,500 and you get it for $2,000 less? I was shocked.”
Rosario said the offer brought him to tears.
“I’m not rich. I’m an everyday guy, kind of in the middle. I drive a truck,” Rosario said. “I told this story to someone I know today and it’s crazy because it’s a story about my Auto is. I could tell it a billion times.”
Abinion said he has been in the auto business for nearly 40 years and has in fact witnessed acts of generosity like the Wahlberg-Rosario connection before.
“In fact, interestingly enough, I’ve seen spontaneous things like this before,” Abinion said. “Not long ago, last year, a woman from my community who I didn’t know came into my dealership and said a group of about five people wanted to help this person who was struggling and having a hard time – she was single mom. She had a car that always had problems and they took it to a mechanic and he said it wasn’t worth fixing. These three women, along with their husbands, came up with $15,000 and bought her a car.”
Abinion said Wahlberg’s kindness was inspirational.
“It gives you a wonderful feeling and hope that despite everything we’re dealing with, it’s not always that bad,” he said.
“There are many wonderful people who do things like this selflessly, and I think that’s how I see it,” Abinion said. “I wouldn’t say it was unjustified. I would say we are called to be nice to one another and to help one another. While this may not seem like much to Donnie (Wahlberg), it is life-changing to the person who gets it. Generosity is contagious.”
Reflecting on the act of kindness, Rosario said he’ll “pass it on.”
“I feel like it’s good karma because I’m very generous,” he said. “I’m not the richest person but I try to help whoever, whenever and that it just came back and it just was like that. Nothing that has happened to me has ever been like this.”
More photos of Donnie on the set of Blue Bloods have been published! Click here for more!
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Jonathan will be on Rachael Ray this Monday! Click here to find what time it airs in your area! Here’s a short clip from the preview video on her website:
Jonathan shared a post on his Instagram account about how you can help save Monarch butterflies.
Did you watch this week’s episode of Farmhouse Fixer? Some fans noticed an eerie shadow in the window of the John Proctor house that Jonathan worked on in that episode. Check out an article about that here.
Here are a few highlights from Donnie’s stories over the past few days.
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