“I’m still in shock,” says Ashley Quilt, the new and proud owner of this year’s grad car: a Chevy Spark.
The car, worth $11,745, was donated by Cariboo GM and is an annual tradition for Dry Grad in the lakecity.
Quilt bought two tickets for the raffle during the grad parade. She was in town from Yunesit’in, where she is a youth worker, to celebrate five graduating students from the community.
She says she told the person selling the tickets, “I never win anything.”
When she got the news it was Saturday night and she was home after attending the celebrations, watching Netflix before drifting off to sleep.
“I got the message and I started running around the house yelling, ‘I won the car!’
The car has a manual transmission, which Quilt says she has yet to learn.
Her sister, Niomi, will be teaching her (and gets to be the first one to drive it home).
Currently, Quilt says she isn’t quite sure whether or not she will be selling or keeping the vehicle, although she says she won’t be selling it for $40, an amount a few friends have offered her after learning she paid $20 for the tickets (after all, that is double what she paid).
“I’m just excited about actually winning something.”
Doug Peters, the general sales manager at Cariboo GM, says it’s their pleasure to give away the vehicle. In past years they have refitted trucks for the raffle, but during the past two have simply given away a new car.
“We do this to help the grads, because this is one of their biggest fundraisers.”
Also raffled off was a watch from Woodland Jewellers, a log bench from Pioneer Log Homes and an auto start install from Andres Electronics.
In total, the raffle raised $20,000 for Dry Grad festivities.
“We sold every single ticket,” said fundraising chair Cassandra Paterson.
“I’m really thankfu that the community still supports Dry Grad.”