I really enjoy seeing good people do good things, especially when it’s someone I know. The devastating tornadoes in Kentucky this past week presented a situation that needed some good people to step up and do what they do best, and so many did.
I was honored for the opportunity to see this in a couple of our favorite CCA members. Jaynee Beechuk from the Buckeye Chapter in Cincinnati, Ohio and Bill Wade from the Bluegrass Chapter in Louisville, Kentucky were able to put together a plan to bring some hope to this area and showed how good people work in the face of adversity. Beechuk, Wade, and I have had a number of opportunities to spend time at the track at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky and make a number of friends there. Wade also had an instructing gig there for their Corvette programs and knew the staff, a number of which had suffered losses from the storm.
When Jaynee and Wade saw what was needed, they sprang into action. Jaynee put out a call for clothing and gift cards on our neighborhood Facebook page with the plan to shuttle a couple of bags of donations down to Bowling Green, Kentucky via Wade. Immediately, people started to stop by with clothes and gift cards. After a while, I was thinking, or maybe hoping, that this would be something like Halloween in that once you turned off your porch light, they would stop coming to your door. When we woke up the next morning, there was more waiting. At least I got to meet a few neighbors I had never seen before. We ended up with numerous bags and boxes of clothing and over $1,300 in gift cards, a large portion which came from another Chapter member.
While I was herding collections, Wade and Jaynee knew there was more that they could do. Wade was working another aspect of aid for a friend. The staff photographer at the Corvette museum lived near the track and, along with all of the track building damage nearby, had serious damage to his house, barn, and two destroyed cars. He is a great guy with a positive attitude and warm family. Wade wanted to help our friend and started a GoFundMe account for them. The goal was to raise $2,500. As of now, it has collected over $15,000. Meanwhile, Jaynee hopped to her other passion, quilting. Having a few already in the works, she cranked out a number of finished quilts to spread the warmth.
All in all, I’m glad we sold our E46 and bought an X3. The amount of donations allowed me to be able to test the volume that BMW had specified for the vehicle. We squeezed the last bags in through a widow because I was afraid to open a door until we wanted to remove the bags. Next was a trip south to meet with Wade who would make a run down to Bowling Green with the donations the next day.
All of this brought out some inner warmth and enhanced the thought that car people are car people, whether they drive Corvettes or the Ultimate Driving Machine, and they find friends wherever they go.—Tim Beechuk
