Melissa Waller, third from right, poses with representatives from local charities who received donations from the Westgate Charity Car Show.
LIMA — Mother Nature may have dampened attendance at the 15th annual Westgate Charity Car Show, held on June 26 at Apollo Career Center, but that did not dampen the spirits of the show’s organizers, who were still able to help needed funds flow to a variety of area charities.
Six of those charities were able to reap the benefits of the car show during a check presentation Wednesday at Westgate Entertainment Center. For Melissa Waller, the treasurer of the charity car show, being able to present those checks is not only rewarding for the recipient charities but for the event organizers, as well.
“These checks represent an entire year’s [worth of] work getting sponsors and items donated for raffle prizes,” said Waller. “We have our car show on the last Sunday of June. This was our 15th car show. It was rainy so we only got about half the cars we usually do.”
The beneficiaries of the car show help to meet a wide variety of needs in the Lima community, according to Waller.
“Today is the day where we give away our money to various charities in our community,” she said: “Allen/Lima Leadership and their Love Luggage Project, the Samaritan House, the Veterans Food Pantry, Heart and Sole, Westgate Angels and the Jason Strauser Memorial Fund for brain cancer.”
Heart & Sole of Allen County is a nonprofit charity created to provide new and gently used shoes to area children in need.
“Our mission is simple,” the charity’s Facebook page reads, “uniting together as a community to enrich the lives of our youth one shoe at a time.”
Love Luggage was founded by the Allen Lima Leadership Class of 2006 and the purpose is to provide bags full of amenities that are needed by children who are placed into foster care through Allen County Children Services.
Lima’s Samaritan House, located at 328 W. McKibben St., is a shelter that has been serving homeless women and their children in Lima and Allen County since 1987.
The Westgate Angels is a group that selects families every Christmas providing needed items to help them enjoy the holiday.
