Every year for the past four years, I-5 Toyota has raffled off a car or truck for just $10 per raffle ticket – and in the process, helped Lewis County high schools net important fundraising dollars.
This year I-5 Toyota gives away a 2012 Yaris – and the fundraising efforts are open to all grade levels in both Lewis and Thurston Counties.
I-5 Toyota owner Heidi Pehl grew up in Chehalis and graduated from W.F. West High School.
“I went to the University of Washington and was up in Seattle for 10 years,” she says. “I moved back and married my husband, who has a business here.”
Pehl was hired as the first executive director at the Port of Chehalis, a job she held – and loved – for 12 years.
Eleven years ago, the owner of Uhlmann Motors approached Heidi’s husband and asked him to consider buying the dealership.
“Three days later, we bought the business,” she says with a laugh. “I had no idea I’d ever be in the car business, but I love it. It’s fun!”
Pehl now owns and operates four Chehalis car dealerships, which all fall under the I-5 Cars umbrella: I-5 Toyota, I-5 Scion, I-5 Ford, and I-5 Uhlmann RV.
It’s important to Pehl to be involved in her community, and through I-5 Cars, she raises money for annual scholarships for graduating seniors, given through their Back To School Dash.
The I-5 Toyota Car Giveaway came about as another way to lend a much-needed helping hand to local schools.
A Coeur D’Alene dealer who has always served as a mentor to Pehl gives away a car every year to local schools. Pehl modeled the I-5 Toyota project after his.
“We donate a car and it’s open to all the local high schools to participate,” says Pehl. “They sell $10 raffle tickets, and then keep 100 percent of the money they collect.”
Any school club or group can get involved, be it the band or baseball team, cheerleaders or track team.
“Whoever sells the tickets – whichever group or club, keeps the proceeds,” Pehl explains.
A cross-country team sold tickets the first year so they could buy uniforms.
The first year I-5 Toyota gave away a car, only W.F. West High School and Centralia High School participated. Now many surrounding Lewis County schools sell raffle tickets each year to raise money for different clubs and groups.
“We’ve made it really open to a lot of different groups,” says Pehl.
In fact, although state law requires a gambling license to sell raffle tickets – and the process to get one takes weeks and costs money – W.F. West’s athletic director, Scott Chamberlain, generously steps up and helps organizations without a license when they suddenly need to raise money.
For instance, when a Centralia Babe Ruth League team found out they were headed to the World Series, they simply didn’t have enough money to go.
By using W.F. West’s gambling license, they were able to raise the necessary funds in time.
“He lets groups like that sell tickets through W.F. West and administers them and does all the record-keeping and admin that’s required by law,” says Pehl.
Pehl and her team chose the car and then unveil it in February at a free wine mixer and fashion show, held in the I-5 Toyota showroom.
“The wine mixer is almost always the Thursday before Valentine’s Day,” says Pehl. “We do a fashion show with a few local retail stores. Ciao Bella is my main partner. It’s really fun; there’s music, wine and beer.”
The mixer and unveiling kicks off the raffle-buying period, and then the drawing for the car giveaway takes place at halftime of the annual Swamp Cup football game in October – the area’s biggest football event, the Chehalis-Centralia rivalry game.
“This is 100 percent personal,” says Pehl, or her decision to donate a car every year. “A lot of people think Toyota gives us the car, but they don’t. This is something we do.”
Why? Businesses are asked for donations for worthy causes every day, and they simply write a check to those they choose to support.
“This was our way of opening it to anyone,” says Pehl. “You can sell 10 raffle tickets and make $100 for your program. Or, we had a Centralia basketball team that wanted to participate in a tournament in Alaska and they sold a ton of tickets.
Pehl likes that the I-5 Toyota Car Giveaway is open to so many clubs and groups.
“If people do a little work for it, they have a higher sense of investment. And you know what?” Pehl asks with a laugh. “Someone wins a car!”
But the winner isn’t obligated to keep it. Last year, the woman who won the car was a small business owner in the Napavine/Winlock area. She didn’t want to keep the car, so the dealership bought the car back from her. “It helped her small business and she was so excited,” says Pehl.
The year before, a local electrician who had just lost his job won a Toyota Tacoma truck. He was happy to keep it.
“It’s fun when you get to draw the name and it’s someone you know,” says Pehl. “It’s exciting.”
Raffle tickets are currently available at all school-sponsored events and also at the I-5 Toyota store located in Chehalis, just off I-5 exit 79. For more information and to read contest rules, visit I-5 Car Giveaway website.
I-5 Toyota
Chehalis, WA
