About 30 Newbury Township officials, veterans and would-be raffle winners crowded the showroom at Preston Auto Superstore Nov. 18, eager to find out who’d won a new 2014 Chevy Equinox SUV.
The drawing raised $50,000 toward the township’s new Veterans Memorial Park.
Hopeful spectators dined on snacks and a cake donated by Diane Schneider, waiting for the big moment that was five months in the making — when Newbury American Legion Post 663 Commander Ken Hunter would draw the winning ticket for the new car.
Superstore owner Pat Preston, who lives in Newbury, donated the vehicle, with taxes paid, to the project, which has been in the works for a year.
Trustee Glen Quigley heads the $100,000 Newbury Memorial Park project, which trustees vowed would be completed without using any taxpayers’ money.
Tuesday night, Quigley said trustees, veterans and the community started with a $25,000 state grant arranged by State Sen. John Eklund and has raised another $5,000 in donated services and individual gifts.
“So last year we started with zero and as of tonight, we have $80,000,” Quigley. “I think we’ve done damn good.”
The fundraising committee, composed of volunteers from the Legion and the community, struggled at times to reach the goal of selling 2,000 tickets at $25 each for the raffle.
“As of tonight, we had sold 1,964 and Pat Preston purchased the rest, so we’ve reached our goal,” Quigley said. “Pat and the Chevy Network made all this possible.”
Preston said he has donated new cars in the past to St. Helen’s Church and for school fundraisers.
“The Newbury vets came to me trying to raise money for the memorial park and I told them we’ve tried this in the past,” Preston said. “It’s hard to do, and takes a real team effort to pull it off and sell that many tickets, but they pulled together and did a phenomenal job.
“Selling 2,000 tickets is a lot,” Preston added. “The first thousand goes okay, but after you’ve tapped all your family and friends, it’s hard to convince people to buy more.”
When the big moment for the drawing finally came, Hunter pulled the winning ticket, belonging to Joelle Geiger, a fifth-grade teacher at Royalview Elementary in Wickliffe, who also happens to be Newbury Trustee Jan Blair’s daughter.
“I can’t believe it,” Blair said.
She said Geiger, who had purchased four tickets, could not attend the drawing because she was at her own daughter’s school awards banquet.
“We called her on the intercom and Pat Preston said, ‘Joelle?’” Blair said. “She said, ‘Yes? Who is this?’ When Pat said it was Pat Preston, she yelled, ‘No!’ I think she was speechless.”
Blair said her son-in-law immediately called her to confirm that it wasn’t a prank.
“They were so excited,” she said. “I think it’s still sinking in.”
She said the family will claim their new car at Preston’s on Wednesday.
Quigley said that, with the $50,000 raised Tuesday, construction on the park will begin in earnest as soon as weather permits in the spring. He hopes the project will receive more donations, especially of in-kind goods and services.
“We’ll work throughout the spring so it will be done in time for the formal dedication on Memorial Day,” Quigley said. “So it will be exactly a year from the groundbreaking to the dedication. It’s pretty amazing what a community can accomplish when they work together.”