In the late Glenna Hoggarth, the Armstrong Kin Club won the lottery when it came to members.
As a way to remember to the 12-year Kin Club member ,and legal secretary in Vernon, who died in 2019 at age 58 of cancer, the club held a classic car raffle in 2024 in Hoggarth's memory.
The raffle raised $115,000 for the BC Cancer Foundation.
The foundation, along with the Royal Inland Hospital (RIH) Foundation of Kamloops, share the proceeds of the raffle which go toward the construction of a cancer clinic at RIH.
"When Glenna passed, it left a void in Armstrong that will never be filled," said Kin Club past president Jim Martin, who handed over the cheque to Chris Mayeda of the BC Cancer Foundation, and Jenna Vanderburgh and Shanah Skjeie of the RIH Foundation, prior to a Kin Club regular meeting Wednesday, Jan. 22.
It was Hoggarth鈥檚 husband, Kevin, and his family 鈥� sons Brayden and Todd, and daughter Vanessa 鈥� that purchased a 1976 Corvette Stingray. They decided to donate it to the Armstrong Kin Club and raffle it off to raise money for both breast cancer research and Armstrong Kin Club.
鈥淭he family completely restored it back to original 鈥� actually, better than original 鈥� and the car was appraised with the idea that they wanted the Kin Club to raffle the car off with partial proceeds going to the BC Cancer Foundation,鈥� said Martin.
The car鈥檚 official colour is Kandy Brandywine. The engine was previously rebuilt, but it got a fresh camshaft, oil pump, water pump, distributor and rebuilt alternator with new exhaust manifolds and a dual exhaust system.
The suspension was rebuilt with new ball joints, tie-rod ends, steering pump and steering ram. All the bushings in the car suspension and body mounts were replaced with high performance urethane components. The interior was completely refurbished. The Vette has a brand new upholstery kit, carpets, centre console dash pad and headliners. The in-dash stereo is a replica that matches the original style but has an auxiliary port to plug in a mobile phone.
All the weather seals are new, as well as all the vacuum hoses and control pots for the pop-up headlights. Exterior window trims were polished to a high gloss, and the mirrors, rocker trims and lamps are all new.
The wheels and tires are the only non-stock items, but there are original wheels with new replica centre caps if the winner wishes to pursue collector status insurance.
On one of the windows is a three white-rose decal, symbolizing roses given to their late mom by the Hoggarth kids.
The man who did the yeoman's amount of work restoring the Stingray was Ron Welch of Vernon. He and Kevin Hoggarth were also on hand for the cheque presentation, as were Brayden and Todd. Vanessa was unable to attend.
Ron and Kevin helped the club sell out raffle tickets by taking the restored Corvette to car shows around the province in 2024 between the May and Thanksgiving long weekends.
"I was overwhelmed by the ticket sales, and how the people around the province embraced the raffle," said Ron. "Even our car carrier was taking pictures of the vehicle."
The draw for the car was made at the sold-out Armstrong Demolition Derby Sunday, Oct. 13. The winner was Jerry Thibeault of Cranbrook, who has vowed to bring the car back to Armstrong this spring for a drive-through around the city.
Armstrong Kin Club also held a 50/50 draw in conjunction with the car raffle, and that was also drawn at the demolition derby. The winner was West 麻豆精选 nursing student Kelsea Harwood, who collected more than $56,400.
"She had a friend at the derby phone her with the news, and she was on the phone to us right away," chuckled Martin. "Originally, she thought she had won $28,000."
For the Hoggarth family, they were ecstatic that the raffle was so successful.
"We're very happy with the way it worked out," said Kevin. "If we can help one person, then the whole ordeal (Glenna's sickness and death) is worth it. And we are extremely overwhelmed by the response to the raffle and 50-50."
There were nearly 23,000 tickets sold for the Corvette, and almost 29,000 tickets were available for the 50-50 draw.
The Hoggarth family thanked the generous support of Ron and Jerry Clack, who took care of most of the labour, Nelson鈥檚 Glass, I&R Transmissions, House of Kolor, and OK Tire in Armstrong for making the car look and run beautiful.
Mayeda was floored by the $115,000 donation.
"I didn't realize that this was a two-to-three year project, and the amount of care and love that went into it is so apparent," said Mayeda. "I'm humbled by it. We're humbled by it. It's two-to-three years of just blood, sweat, and tears, and all the care that goes into it."
The Armstrong Kin Club donation to help build a cancer clinic in Kamloops will have an impact on the North Okanagan area for years.
"It's going to add many years to a lot of people's lives when you combine that with the incredible advancements in care that BC Cancer can now bring to cancer patients who require radiation treatments in this area," said Mayeda.
"This is all because of their work, and all in memory of someone who clearly is very incredible."
