In addition to presenting a brand new Corvette to this year’s raffle winner, Stingray Chevrolet set a new record as they presented a $360,000 check to Unity in the Community.
When you close your eyes, do you ever daydream of cruising down the road in a brand new car, the top down, the wind blowing through your hair as the sun sets on a long day?
Plant City resident Stacy Spivey will now have the opportunity to live out that dream as Stingray Chevrolet presented her with a brand new 2022 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible on Tuesday after her name was drawn from among over 70,000 other raffle tickets entered in this year’s contest.
The vehicle is valued at $73,675, sporting a 490 horsepower 6.2L V8 engine.
“It’s crazy,” Spivey said. “It’s definitely something that we didn’t expect. We just expected to make a donation to the charity and if we won, we won, so it was definitely a shock. But we’re honored to be a part of the community and do our part in giving back to the community.”
If you recognize the Spivey name, that’s because it comes from right here in Plant City. Spivey Farms is a multi-generational, family-run strawberry farm that has called Plant City its home since 1980.
The annual Corvette Raffle is held at the Florida Strawberry Festival each year, with 2022 marking the 13th consecutive year that the raffle has taken place. With the car donated by Steve and Susan Hurley, owners of Stingray Chevrolet in Plant City, 100 percent of the proceeds are then donated to Unity in the Community. The raffle is the largest of three yearly fundraisers held for the organization, in addition to Henry Falcon Memorial Golf Tournament and their annual Clay Shoot.
Steve Hurley, Unity in the Community’s current chairperson, stood in front of a crowded showroom at Stingray Chevrolet on Tuesday, taking the opportunity to thank several board members, local partners, media partners and all of those who have played a part in making the fundraiser such a massive success before presenting Spivey with the keys to her new car and a check to the organization.
With steady growth, the fundraiser has crossed the $300,000 mark with ease in recent years. In 2020, the fundraiser raised $337,000. In 2021, despite the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the Strawberry Festival itself, the fundraiser raised $334,000. But in 2022, it hit a new high as a check for $360,000 was presented to several board members in attendance from Unity in the Community. Over the past 13 years, just under $2.9 million in total has been donated from the proceeds of the raffle.
“It’s grown with time and it’s grown with support,” Steve Hurley said. “And I can’t emphasize enough that this fundraiser is a community coming together to raise these funds. It is the fundraiser for the Florida Strawberry Festival, for the media, for the radio partners, for Stingray Chevrolet as well as for Unity in the Community. We do it all together and we couldn’t even consider doing something like this without so many people involved.”
Unity in the Community is an all-volunteer organization that raises money each year to provide student scholarships and assistance to over 30 charitable organizations in and around Plant City.
“We look at it as a way for us, as a very visible business in Plant City, to give back and really make a difference,” Steve Hurley said. “These organizations are just boots on the ground, grassroots organizations that are really helping those with the greatest needs, focusing quite a bit on children as well the elderly and those that are in the greatest need in Plant City . So it’s something that we’re proud to do and we couldn’t do it without our partnerships, our media partners, all of the radio stations that support this and run extra spots and drive traffic to the festival, the festival itself. That’s still a massive percentage of what we raise. Close to half of what we raise is from the Florida Strawberry Festival, all of that traffic in just 11 days, so that’s a huge, huge chunk of what we raise. It takes a village to raise funds and give back to the community like this and it wouldn’t happen without everyone helping and being involved. “
