Effort nets $7,130 from car company, dealership

Ran on Thursday, June 7, 2007

Effort nets $7,130 from car company, dealership

By Keighla Schmidt
Leader-Telegram staff

Fundraising for schools is one of the oldest stories in the book, but raising $7,130 in four hours by driving minivans and cars around the block for a small Bloomer school is not.
In April, St. Paul’s Catholic School of Bloomer took advantage of an opportunity from a Dodge and Chrysler car dealership, Gilberts of Sand Creek, to earn the most money ever raised by any school in 14 years of a national test-drive program.
As part of the Chrysler Group’s annual Drive for the Kids, family and friends of students test-drive vehicles. For each completed test-drive and short questionnaire, participating schools receive $5.
This year, to commemorate the minivan’s 24th birthday, an additional $5,000 was given to the U.S. school in each region with the most test-drives and completed questionnaires.
When St. Paul’s was notified about the chance of extra money, it set out to win, teacher and fundraising coordinator Liz Cruse said.
The school promoted the event and coordinated it with other school events to maximize its chances.
The drive-a-thon was on the same night as the school’s spring concert, science and art fair and chicken dinner. Cruse’s fifth-grade class designed newspaper advertisements, and school officials promised students that any class having each child represented would get one “free” recess.
The parish priest reminded parishioners at mass about the fundraiser.
The tactics worked. On April 25, 426 people at the school test-drove vehicles supplied by Gilberts, which is about 12 miles from the school, raising $2,130.
In late May the dealership learned that St. Paul’s had more test-drives than any other school in the Midwest region, earning the $5,000 bonus. It also had the most in the country and in program history.
Kathy Zwiefelhofer, a mother of three students at St. Paul’s, drove a vehicle, along with her husband, mother and mother-in-law.
“We were hoping to get a good turnout,” she said. “We tried to get parents and grandparents involved.”
The school plans to purchase new reading textbooks with the money, Cruse said.
“It will directly impact all students,” Zwiefelhofer said.
The time people took to drive the cars says a lot about the community support for the school, said Steve Olson, a car salesman for Gilberts.
The dealership also benefits. “It’s a great way to introduce products in a hassle-free environment,” Olson said. “It’s a non-selling, goodwill event for us to give back a little bit.”
The dealership provided five Dodge vehicles for test-drives, two minivans, a Nitro, an Avenger and a Charger.
While there were no sales that night, Olson said vehicles definitely are sold because of the awareness the event brings to the dealership.
Olson said it was a win-win situation, bringing money to the school and publicity to the company.
Schmidt can be reached at 833-9203 or keighla.schmidt@ecpc.com