The Gentlemen Car Club raises funds for VetsRoll

DOUG SCHRODER PHOTO The Gazette
James Holeton stands in front of his 1986 El Camino at the Gentlemen Car Club Cruise Night at Meadow Mart Mall in Loves Park on Thursday, Sept.19. The trophy he is holding came from a car show he attended ten days earlier. The Cruise Nights are a fundraiser for VetsRoll.

By Doug Schroder
CORRESPONDENT
The Gentlemen Car Club of Loves Park held the last of their summertime Cruise Night fundraisers for VetsRoll on Thursday, Sept. 19.
The club, which originated in Loves Park in 1959, was active until the late 1960s when they decided to disband after all of the members had either enlisted, or were drafted, into the armed forces during the Vietnam Conflict.
When the club was resurrected by a group of auto enthusiasts in the fall of 2010, many of the enthusiasts were original members of the club. All of the returning members were now veterans of the armed services and it was decided right then and there that the club would honor all veterans and members of the armed forces by raising funds to donate to VetsRoll, an organization that provides all expenses paid trips for veterans to Washington, D.C. so that they may view the war memorials there, and other points of interest along the way and back.
In 2011 the club held two Cruise Nights a month from May thru September at the now defunct Hawks View Restaurant from May through September.
The club scaled back a little in 2012 by deciding to go with only one Cruise Night per month held on the third Thursday from April thru September in the parking lot of Meadow Mart Shopping Mall on N. Second Street in Loves Park. The club has adhered to that time and place ever since. There is usually a good turnout.
“We average around 100 cars per Cruise Night,” stated club President Tim Bauscher
The club raises the funds to donate to VetsRoll by holding a 50/50 raffle at each Cruise Night.
“Our average we usually raise, for the past five or six years, has been about nine grand a year,” said Bauscher.
Bauscher also went on to explain in the on-site interview that all funds raised by the club are turned over to VetsRoll, and is then disbursed as the organization sees fit. The cost to send each veteran on the trip to D.C was $600. That number recently went up this year to $650 per veteran.
In addition to donating to VetsRoll the Gentlemen Car Club puts names of different charities in a hat at the last Cruise Night of the year. Whichever name is drawn from the hat the proceeds from the Cruise Night go to. This year the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation benefitted from the draw of the hat.
The Gentlemen Car Club currently has 37 members and meets the second Tuesday of each month May through November at the Loves Park VFW Post 9759 on Windsor Road. The next meeting takes place Oct. 8 from 5:30 to 8 p.m.
Members of the club will be taking part in upcoming events such as the Machine Shed Cruise on Thursday, Sept. 26, The Neighbor’s Bar & Grill Car Show on Saturday Oct. 5, and the Rock’n Bowl Car Show on Saturday, Oct.12.
More information about the club and upcoming events can be found by going on the Internet to gentlemencarclub.com.