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Updated: A Langley car show for mental health

Despite poor weather, Father’s Day event raises $10K for Langley Community Services Society
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Michelle Edwards, Lindsey Beck and “Cherry Bomb” were the height of 50’s fashion for a rain-drenched Stay Gold Custom Car Show to benefit mental health at George Preston Sunday. The trio were selling 50/50 tickets to help support services at Langley Community Services Society. Dan Ferguson Langley Times

Volunteer Ryan Mathwig was getting soaked, but he didn’t mind.

“We’re going to push through,” Mathwig told The Times Sunday (June 18), as the first annual Stay Gold Custom Car Show, a fun-raiser for mental health, got underway in the pouring rain in the east parking lot of the George Preston Recreation Centre.

“It’s only about half the cars (we were expecting).”

Mathwig said the Father’s Day car show was inspired by members of Strong Car Club which started up in Langley 25 years ago.

“One person in the club had some issues with mental health,” Mathwig said.

The event aims to help people who have no extended medical or limited funds to go to a professional to get some help.

The money raised will go to the Langley Community Services Society, which provides counselling, education, as well as a wide variety of programs in the areas of family counselling, family services, settlement and integration and substance use services to nearly 2,000 individuals, couples, and families every year.

“It’s Langley supporting Langley. It’s awesome,” said Greg Davis, the program manager of the Langley Community Services Society.

“We deal with a lot of people with mental health issues. It’s really nice that the community is supporting LCSS.”

The car show website says, “It seems our system for mental health resources still requires a great deal of awareness and funding brought to the table as right now most people do not know where to turn. We realized that many of us had been in a dark place at one time or another in our lives and we were not really aware of the signs of symptoms of mental illness.”

Organizer Paul Frost said the event was pulled together in less than five months.

“With everyone helping, it came together.”

An initial rough estimate places the total raised at just over $10,000.

“We didn’t have a goal in mind,” Frost said.

“Now we know where the bar is set.”

He said there will be another fundraiser next year, but the date and details are still being sorted out.

For more on the show, visit staygoldcustomcarshow.com or email info@staygoldcustomcarshow.com. You can donate online through the show’s website.



Dan Ferguson

About the Author: Dan Ferguson

Best recognized for my resemblance to St. Nick, I’m the guy you’ll often see out at community events and happenings around town.
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