The Arnold Rotary Club collected more money from its car show this year than it did last year.
Rotary president Phil Hendrickson said the club collected about $13,000 from its second Charity Car Show on May 9 at the Fox C-6 Service Center in Arnold. He said the club collected about $8,000 last year.
“We had a lot more local sponsors and support,” Hendrickson said. “We sold some extra T-shirts that we had because every car got a T-shirt for entering.
“Overall, it went well. We did generate more revenue for Rotary with the car show.”
Hendrickson said 130 vehicles registered were in this year’s car show, but he said some people who had registered did not attend. He also said there were more than 25 vehicles that were not registered that were on display during the show.
There were 127 vehicles registered in last year’s show.
“I had a few call me and say they lived on a gravel road and they weren’t going to come in because the rain just stopped,” he said of some of the registered vehicles that were not at the show. “They said they didn’t want to get their car out in the mess. It held some back.”
Hendrickson said the money Arnold Rotary collected from the show is used to make contributions to area charitable organizations, such as the Arnold Police Officers Association, BackStoppers, Brenden’s Friday Backpacks, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Focus on Mission, Fox C-6 robotics program, Gateway Food Pantry, Hand ’n Hand Women’s Center, Pony Bird, Salvation Army and Scouting America.
Hendrickson also said money from the show helps pay for scholarships that Arnold Rotary awards to students from the Fox C-6 and Windsor C-1 school districts, for the club to participate in community events such as Christmas in the Park and for the organization to provide Christmas gifts to retirement community residents, deliver free Thanksgiving meals, hold the Arnold Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast and for veterans to participate in the Veterans Memorial Trip to Perryville.
He said Arnold Rotary may be able to make additional charitable contributions this year because of the money it collected from the car show.
“It is going to help tremendously,” he said. “Each year, we seem to add one or two charities that we are able to support. It will help also with the veterans bus tour to Perryville.”
For more information about the Arnold Rotary Club, go to its Facebook page or myarnoldrotary.org. The club meets at 12:15 p.m. every Wednesday at Wesley Roger’s Steak and Buffet restaurant, 3601 Jeffco Blvd., in Arnold.
Click to see more photos from the event: