The car club hand out $1,200 checks to 10 recipients at monthly meeting
ATASCADERO — On Thursday, Nov. 21, the Mid State Cruizers gave away $12,000 to local charities at their monthly meeting. The money was raised at their 33rd Annual Car Show in August. The car club has been raising more and more money for local nonprofits every year, and this is the most they’ve ever been able to donate.
“This year, due to the combined efforts of pretty much everybody in this room and all of our members, we were able to actually break last year’s record, and we actually profited $12,000 this year,” said Mid State Cruizers President Roy Barba at the beginning of the meeting. “Which is $1,000 more than last year’s, which was great for everybody. Because of that, tonight we’ll be handing out 10 $1,200 checks to local charities.”
Like in years past, the club nominated 22 local nonprofits at their September meeting and put them on the ballot for voting. The official vote took place at their October meeting, and 10 charities were chosen to receive $1,200 checks to help them with the wonderful things they do for our community.
“The primary reason for our car show is to give the money away at the end of the year,” Barba said. “That’s actuallywritten into our bylaws, so every penny and profit that we make is donated, and it specifically states that it must be donated to local charities.”
This year saw some familiar faces, with the club picking charities from years past, as well as some new nonprofits thrown into the mix. This year, the checks went to Atascadero High School Auto Shop, Honor Flight Central Coast, SLO Dream Makers, Atascadero High School Robotics (Greybots), Jack’s Helping Hand, Woods Humane Society, Boxes for Soldiers (Helping Soldiers in the Desert), Boy Scout Troop #51, Veterans Memorial Foundation (Faces of Freedom), and the Shandon Boys & Girls Club.
“It’s because of groups like you that continue to donate to us that allows us to continue to take the trip,” said Honor Flight Chairman Bear McGill of taking veterans to Washington, D.C., free of charge, to thank them for their service.
Every nonprofit sent a representative to the meeting to receive their checks. Between all of the charities, the Mid StateCruizers lend a helping hand to all demographics of the community, including terminally ill adults.
“Thank you guys. One hundred percent of what you worked so hard for and gave us this check for goes to making dreams come true for terminally ill adults in our community,” stated Dr. Ronda Beaman from SLO Dream Makers. “One of the things that we do, that’s so important, is for a little while you’re not sick. For a little while, you’re so excited about the thing you get to do and who you get to be with. We just sent someone to see ‘Wicked’ on Broadway because they had never been to New York.”
The Greybots from Atascadero High School, who are three-time world champions in high school robotics, sent two students to pick up their check.
“This money will go into helping build those robotics,” said Trevor, a student with the team. “So students can learn a lot about themselves and have a great time as well. Thank you guys so much for this.”
New to the docket this year was the Shandon Boys & Girls Club. The nonprofit club has around 60 registered members and is a safe space from ages Pre-K through 12th grade to learn and continue to grow, many of which are from low-income families.
“This is what we’re going to be using the money for, is to get more parents into the club and a lot more events on campus with them,” said Club Director Carina Ramirez.
The Mid State Cruizers can’t wait until next November when they’ll be able to do this for the local nonprofit community all over again.
“We have to thank everybody who showed up here, especially the charity representatives,” Barba said. “We love having you here. This is what it’s all about as far as we’re concerned.”
Featured Image: Mid State Cruizers members are shown with the recipients of their charity donations this year. Photo by Christianna Marks/ATN
