RAFFLE BROUGHT IN $300,000 FOR CHARITIES IN PLANT CITY.
On Tuesday, dozens of people gathered at Stingray Chevrolet to see owners Steve and Susan Hurley hand off the key fob for the $90,370 Corvette 2LT Convertible they donated for the Strawberry Festival New Corvette Giveaway.
“I like to say it’s always a great day in Plant City,” Mayor Nate Kilton said when he was asked to address the group. “Today is an extra-special day when we get to celebrate this gift. I think most important is the sentiment it shows—the collaboration of our non-profits. The great work of people coming together to make this happen….We can’t thank you enough for your generosity and what you do for Plant City,” he said to the Hurleys. “You are the epitome of what it means to be pay-it-forward citizens….I just love being in Plant City. You can tell, if you are not from here, the culture is amazing. Our people are phenomenal, and when you have that type of recipe, you can’t help but winning all of the time.”
The winning raffle ticket was drawn in an event at the Strawberry Festival on Sunday, March 9. Shawn Fox was at his house doing laundry and watching the raffle on Facebook. His phone rang, but he didn’t answer it. A few minutes later he checked the voicemail. “I heard the message, and he was going through the whole spiel, and I thought, ‘Naaaahhh.’ Then he sent me a text, and I called back. I couldn’t even believe it.”
Fox, who lived in Plant City for 15 years, recently moved west of Tampa. He bought the winning ticket on the Saturday before the Sunday drawing. “I have bought tickets for six years—usually about $100 worth,” Fox said. “I wasn’t planning on going to the Strawberry Festival this year, but my grandson wanted to go see the tractors and the animals. That’s all he wanted to do. He doesn’t want to ride any rides. So, I took him. All I had in my pocket was $20, and I figured I have been doing this every year. That is all I could afford to give at that time. I wasn’t expecting to win. So, I bought four tickets. I thought, ‘I’m not going to win, but it’s for a good cause.’”
Ticket sales came to approximately $297,000. Since he bought four tickets, Fox’s odds of winning were about 1 out of 14,850. The Hurleys rounded the receipts up to the final amount of $300,000. In the 16 years of the raffle, it has brought in $3,581,000 for Unity in the Community to support non-profit organizations in Plant City that help those who are less fortunate.
“Shawn, congratulations!” Steve Hurley said during the presentation. “We are very happy for you….We always say whatever we raise during the course of this raffle, it is always more than we had before. We are very, very proud” Hurley thanked the Strawberry Festival, and all of the people who volunteered hours of their time handling logistics and selling tickets that made the raffle possible.
Sharon Moody, Treasurer for Unity in the Community, led the crowd in a round of applause for the Hurleys for their generosity. “These people have the best hearts in Plant City,” she said….”We appreciate you for all you have done for this community.”
“I appreciate the Strawberry Festival, the Hurley Family, Stingray Chevrolet, and I am truly blessed,” Fox said. “I have never owned a new car, I’ve never owned anything that expensive. I have always put my kids and family first. I just feel like God is looking out for me now. I’m a firm believer that you get back what you put out into the world.”
Unity in the Community is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Money brought in from fundraisers like the Strawberry Festival New Corvette Giveaway are allocated to 60 local on-the-ground charities and organizations that fulfill the mission of the organization.
