'Drive4UrSchool' raises $6,000 for high school's DECA
For each free test drive of a Ford vehicle on Saturday, Wareham’s DECA program received $20 during the Drive4UrSchool program.
The goal was to get 300 participants, and by the second hour, there were already 150 people that signed up to take vehicles out for a spin.
“We’ll have over that,” said Mike Cali, one of Wareham High School's business teachers and an organizer of the event.
This is the third year that the club has hosted the event. Though it doesn’t come around every year, when it does, community members don’t fail to show up.
“This community is absolutely fabulous,” Cali said, explaining the turn out and how the police department donated all the cones and caution tapes for the event.
“We constantly battle with a reputation. I tell the kids, you make our rep what you want it to be,” said Cali.
Officer Dean Decas of the Wareham Police Department supervised the event and seconded the sentiment.
“Look at all the students here on a Sunday and look at what they're doing,” he said.
There were students spread throughout Wareham, holding signs and raising awareness of the event while it occurred.
Students and their parents were the ones coordinating the test drives and drivers. Students took the drivers to the vehicles and waited with them while parents sat with the participants during the test drives.
There were five Wareham Ford vehicles to choose from: the Edge, Explorer, F-150, Taurus and Fusion.
With some music to set the mood, the event also had chips, drinks and hot dogs available to the public.
Ford hosts thousands of these events across the country. On that same day, there were 42 other locations nationwide hosting the same event. According to program’s website, the goal was to “devise a creative, low-pressure fund-raising opportunity” and raise $6,000 in the community each time.
