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By Laurice Gomes

Car Show

Abbotsford dealership braved gloomy weather to fundraise for Pantry34

Jul 3, 2022 | 4:10 PM

ABBOTSFORD — It was a rainy Sunday at Abbotsford Chrysler’s 4^th annual Mopar Charity Car Show. However, Matt Shirlaw, the dealership’s managing partner, was confident in the heart behind the event.

“We’re raising funds for the Rotary’s pantry program, which provides food to kids in need,” Shirlaw said.

The pantry program Shirlaw is referring to is the Salvation Army’s Pantry34—a healthy snack initiative for Abbotsford’s School District 34.

Shirlaw recalled the big turnout at last year’s event, when it was pure sunshine, and the dealership parking lot was bustling with activity.

“Last year we had probably a couple of thousand people attend, and this year I would expect maybe a couple of hundred, just given the weather,” he said. “One thing I know about car shows is that rain doesn’t help.”

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Still, Shirlaw, along with the Rotary Club of Abbotsford Sumas, turned their focus to the motivation behind the event—feeding school-aged children in their community.

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Rotarian Ashley Gray said Pantry34 first saw its roots after a startling realization was made by schoolteachers and elucidated how the Rotary Club got involved.

“The Salvation Army discovered a number of kids coming to school each day without having healthy snacks, lunches, drinks or anything,” Gray explained. “And so, what we started to do is to bring healthy snacks and drinks to a number of schools, and then the teachers would just give them out.”

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Shirlaw echoed Gray’s sentiments and further expanded that Abbotsford Chrysler was going to match up to $2,500 raised for Pantry34.

“I’m a member of Rotary, I support Rotary,” Shirlaw remarked. “The more people that are here, the more money we can raise. That’s the hope for us today.”

“It was a great opportunity last year to work with Matt for the first time on the car show,” Gray said, reminiscing on last year’s success. “Sadly, it’s probably not going to have that dynamic this year.”

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Gray added that around this time last year, 16 schools in Abbotsford were not taking part in the program. “So, we decided that we wanted to make sure that every child in Abbotsford had this opportunity to have healthy snacks and beverages,” he said.

Outside the dealership office, tents were set up with volunteers offering bottled water to guests coming in.

“We had hoped for it to be a nice day today, so we had a bunch of bottled water that we were going to sell,” Shirlaw said. “I’m hoping that we get a whole bunch more cars out.”

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Both Shirlaw and Gray expressed their gratitude to the volunteers for their assistance in putting the event together.

“Definitely could not do an event like this without them,” Shirlaw said with fondness. “They’re the stars today when it comes to putting the event on.”

While the total amount raised hasn’t been revealed yet, people can still donate to Pantry34 by visiting https://www.abbotsfordsumasrotary.org/.