By Paula Cochran
General Motors built the Pontiac Trans Am to promote auto racing as well as to showcase high-performance cars. In 1969, only 689 Trans Am hardtop coupes and 8 Trans Am convertibles were built. If you've dreamed of owning one of these rare muscle cars, your chance to win one has arrived.
The Trans Am took Eugene and Ron Johnson, a father and son team who own Johnson's Garage in Lewisburg, two years to build. Carl Reeder, a friend of Ron Johnson, suggested The Matroom and Pennsylvania Cystic Fibrosis Inc. (PACFI) sell the car as a joint fund-raiser.
With a high-performance automobile in hand, Reeder and Johnson joined hands with Bob Derr of PACFI to make the joint fund-raiser possible.
Johnson runs The Matroom, a non-profit wrestling club for junior high and high school students in the Susquehanna Valley.
"Other wrestling clubs in the area can cost students between $2,000 and $4,000 a year," Johnson said. "We provide training, free of charge, to students from more than eight different schools." Students from any district are welcome.
In addition to training at The Matroom, funds are used to take students to competitions, where students have an opportunity to become state-tournament-caliber wrestlers.
A former Shikellamy wrestler, Reede has a girlfriend, Chris Giesige, who has cystic fibrosis. The experience with both gave Reeder a unique viewpoint: "A wrestler really works hard to wrestle for three periods and it can leave you breathless. When the match is over, that wrestler feels what a person with CF feels most days, like they are struggling for breath," he said.
"We think this joint fund-raiser with The Matroom will help both organizations," Derr said. "Sometimes it all comes down to a lack of money, and The Matroom will give kids the opportunity to compete at a high level without spending hundreds of dollars to do it.
"We at PACFI are hoping this project gives us a big boost to buy more portable nebulizers, air conditioners, medications "” things families need to get through the day on a regular basis," Derr said. "We take breathing for granted, but a lot of people with CF have to fight to breathe on a daily basis and we want to help them. CF claims a life every 24 hours, and we want to help extend the quality of those lives any way we can. That's why we spend a lot of our money giving people with CF what they need to survive until a cure or long-term treatment can be found."
"We are looking for 100 people to sell tickets," Reeder said. "In addition to helping raise funds for PACFI and The Matroom, volunteers who sell at least 20 tickets have a chance to win one of 23 fuel cards starting at $100 and the person who sells the most tickets will win a fuel card for $1,000.
"This fundraiser is an opportunity not only to give, but to get back as well," Reeder said. "If 100 people sell tickets, they have about a one-in-five chance of winning something for their efforts." For $20 apiece, 10,000 will be sold.
The year-long fundraiser will end on March 9, 2009. The winning ticket will match the Pennsylvania Lottery Pick Four number. After paying for the expense of building the car, the profits will be split between PACFI and The Matroom.
"Every time we sell a dozen tickets, that money gives someone with CF a chance to breathe easier," Derr said.
The car is being featured weekly at local dealers. Last week it was at Mifflinburg Auto. "When I saw the car as a shell I told Johnson that it would sure look nice on my showroom floor," said Rick Diehl, owner of Mifflinburg Auto. "When the car was finished and I had the opportunity to show it to help out a charity, I was more than happy to give them the space."
This week it is at the Carlisle Car Show through Sunday then it returns to the area: Paul Stine's Chevrolet, Selinsgrove, April 28 to May 5; Beaver Springs Drags, May 23-26; the Bloomsburg Dream Machine Motor Club Auto Show on June 8 at the Bloomsburg Airport; the three-day Bloomsburg Hospital Show (known as the 5th Annual Rod & Custom Cruise-In) and at the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds on August 8-10.
Tickets can be purchased at any of these locations. To find information on ticket sales, purchase and rules at www.pacf-transam.com or call Carl Reeder at 966-3826.
