In June 2008, the club held its first car show at Lakota West High School, deciding from the get-go the event would donate 95 percent of net proceeds to charity.
MORE: West Chester’s Thursday night concert series gets a ‘makeover’
“The one thing that everyone agreed upon was that the Queen City Mustangers would exist to help raise funds for local charities while having fun doing it,” said Tina Scheafer, of Liberty Twp., the group’s membership coordinator, sponsorship chair and car show co-chair. “Over the years, our close knit group has grown to over 100-plus people. We travel to car shows, cruise-ins, enjoy vacations and dinners together.”
In the past decade, the group has raised more than $25,000 toward its charities, including Heroes Fund, Reach Out Lakota, Hospice, Juvenile Diabetes and more, according to Anita Fithen, of West Chester Twp., the club’s vice president, events coordinator, registration chairwoman and car show chairwoman.
“From the beginning, the initial group made the decision that we want to give back to our community in anyway that we can,” Fithen said. “We advertise on our car show flyers that we donate our net proceeds to local charities.”
Every year, Queen City Mustangers work to get local and corporate sponsorship, carefully monitoring expenses for the car show in order to be able to donate more to the charities it supports, Fithen said.
Queen City Mustangers is scheduled to hold its 10th anniversary Celebration Car Show on June 24. Registration for car show participants runs from 9 a.m. to noon with awards to be announced at 4 p.m.
The event, which is free to spectators, includes activities for the entire family, including a kids booth, cake walk, basket raffles, craft show, pets for adoption, music, food, ice cream, craft vendors, car parts and more.
The group will also meet at 10:30 a.m. June 23 at Lakota West High School to drive north to the private museum of Gale Halderman, the original designer of the Ford Mustang. Returning to the area, the group will hold a welcome bash and cookout.
The cost of attending the drive, bash and cookout is $10, all of which goes to hospice. All Ford cars are welcome.
The event draws people from across Ohio, as well Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and West Virginia, Scheafer said.
“We focus on being a friendly and welcoming Club, which I believe brings people back year after year,” Fithen said. “We’ve built a relationship with other Mustang Clubs from Indiana and Kentucky and support our Sister Clubs in their fundraising efforts and, in turn, they support our club.”
For more information, visit www.queencitymustangers.org.
Download the free Journal-News app for the latest local business news
About the Author
