With an event organized in a matter of weeks in what normally takes months, Home Built Rods and Rides members Judy and Ron Miller hosted an event June 7 with lots of community support to raise money for citizens impacted by fires.
The fundraiser car show had more than 150 cars turn out to be featured, as well as raffles, a themed basket contest, and a coin drive. Held at Arts in the Sunset, the event raised an estimated amount of more than $15,000 for those impacted.
The Millers were recruited to take on the fundraiser after a friend, Rick Sprouse, proposed the idea.
“After all the fires that happened, then all the homes that were burned down, I thought, what better way to help raise money than to have a car show and donate everything we make, to the unfortunate people?” Sprouse said. “The people in the Panhandle, they always come through for each other. I really wish that we could raise hundreds of millions of dollars for everybody and replace everything they want. But, you know, we can’t do that … Every little bit helps.”
Judy Miller helped organize and arrange the fundraiser and get the local car clubs and communities working together.
“We had a lot of help; it wasn’t a me thing. It wasn’t just our club. It was a lot of people in the community that got together, a lot of donations came in from a lot of businesses,” Miller said. “It means a lot. I mean, I’ve had fire come up to my back door before. And I think, you know, this could be me. So, the community should come together and help people if they can.”
With the pressing need for money after the fires took so many people’s homes, the organizers wanted to get something together fast.
“We’ve been working on this for just over two and a half weeks. So we’re all tired. We’ve worked really hard to put this together in such a short time,” Miller said. “Normally, it takes seven or eight months to put together a car show.”
Sprouse also invited Brown Automotive partner Kyle McAdams to help raise money and reach out to a wider community.
“I just reached out to a bunch of vendors and friends that I do business with and asked them if they’d help us out. We ended up pulling off a pretty impressive haul as far as prizes and whatnot for the raffle,” McAdams said.
McAdams is a part of the bourbon club of Amarillo, and when he mentioned the event to them, they pitched in money to buy allocated bourbon for the raffle.
“I just mentioned it to them in one of our meetings, and next thing I know, we had a pile of money out there,” McAdams said. “So Charles Leonard from M&R was kind enough to help me get some rare allocated bourbons and whatnot, which are always a hit at stuff like this. So I’m pretty impressed and pretty proud of what they’ve been able to pull off.”
McAdams also had a personal reason to help out with the fundraiser.
“I know one of our mechanics at the dealership, he and his wife lost their home, and we’ve done some private things for them. … Yeah, it’s hitting close to home with us,” McAdams said.
The entry fee was $25 per car. Out of the 160 participating vehicles, they named the top 25, with the best in show award going to a Chevy Square body pickup.
To ensure the people who have lost homes are the ones who will benefit, Miller contacted Texas 2-1-1 to get a list of who was impacted.
“When we figure out our total, the people that have applied for 211, I have a list of their names,” she said. “I’m going to divide the money, and we’re going to issue them checks directly to them.”
“I know these people have been waiting … they’ve had, what, 22 days now of misery,” Miller said at the time of the event. “I’d like to at least have a little bit of something that we can give them to hopefully make their day a little better.”
Ashlyn Harvell is a contributing writer for the Amarillo Globe-News. Have a story idea? Send it in via email at newmedia@amarillo.com .
This story has been updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo car clubs raise $15,000 for those impacted by local fires
Reporting by By Ashlyn Harvell, Special to the Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
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By Ashlyn Harvell, Special to the Amarillo Globe-News | USA TODAY Network
