(Contributed photo)
SANTA CRUZ — Drive for Schools broke all previous sales records this year, bringing in $714,588 for 85 local schools.
Sponsored by the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and the Capitola Auto Mall Dealer Group, Drive for Schools has raised $5.4 million for Santa Cruz County schools since it started in 2005.
“We’re really proud of Drive for Schools,” said Karl Rice, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk president. “We know how valuable this fundraiser is for our local schools, so it’s very rewarding to see it grow every year. We’d like to thank school volunteers for their hard work, the business community for generous prize donations, and everyone who bought tickets to make this fundraiser such an amazing success.”
Each participating school keeps all of the money they raise, with no overhead costs. School volunteers receive everything they need for the fundraiser including tickets, posters, prizes and support. Local schools report using the money raised for art, music, science and sports programs, classroom reading aids and computers.
The Drive for Schools Grand Prize winner, selected during a ticket drawing on Oct. 29, was Lisandro De Lat, a cook from Watsonville. De Lat purchased his winning ticket from Amesti Elementary.
As the Grand Prize winner, De Lat had the choice of a new Subaru Outback, Toyota Prius or $25,000 cash. The father of two young children chose the cash prize donated by the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and Capitola Auto Mall Dealer Group.
A total of 100 other ticket holders also won prizes donated by local businesses, including 10 $1,000 cash prizes, a $1,000 gift certificate from Dell Williams Jewelers, a beach cruiser donated by Boardwalk concessionaire Matt Twisselman, overnight stays at Santa Cruz Dream Inn, Best Western Seacliff Inn and Coastanoa, in addition to dozens of other gift certificates for dining, sailing, kayaking and merchandise.
The Capitola Auto Mall Dealer Group and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk share the cost of the car and $1,000 cash prizes as well as donate staff time to organize and run the fundraiser. Hundreds of school volunteers coordinate their school’s ticket sales. Tickets and posters are printed by Mission Printers.
For information, including a complete list of prizes and winners, visit beachboardwalk.com/driveforschools.
