The air conditioning at St. Benedict's Homeless Shelter in Owensboro, Ky., doesn't run on caffeine, but it might as well.

The $2,500 AC system was funded two years ago by proceeds from the Overflow Cafe, a coffee shop attached to Don Moore GM Center, a Chevrolet-Buick-GMC-Cadillac dealership. The shop, which sells everything from caramel macchiatos to sausage biscuits from its bustling drive-thru window, donates 50 cents from every coffee sale to local homeless shelters.

The cafe generates about $12,000 a year for the homeless, nearly a quarter of the roughly $50,000 a year that Don Moore Automotive gives annually to charities, much of it serving the poor and sick. It's an outgrowth of owner Don Moore's religious faith and stewardship of his family name, which has been associated with selling cars in Owensboro since his great-grandfather opened a Chevrolet store in 1919.

"Our reputation comes not from what we think and say but what we do and what people see," says Moore, 53. "People can see that our commitment to the less fortunate is very real and important to us."