4th ANNUAL MOPAR FAMILY BBQ SETS NEW FUNDRAISING RECORD
Host Car Club NJ Mopar Group Uses Venue to Announce Leadership Additions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HIGHLAND LAKES, NJ - August 22, 2010 (Grassroots PR) - The smell of hamburgers, hotdogs, and pulled pork was in the air at Spruce Run State Park in the Garden State last weekend as Mopar enthusiasts from across the New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania gathered together for Mopar Muscle Club LLC’s 4th Annual Mopar Family BBQ benefitting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The New Jersey Mopar Owner and Enthusiast Group was the host car club for the annual benefit cookout and car show, which is open to all Mopar owners and car clubs.
The word “Mopar” originated in the 1930s as an acronym for “MOtor PARts”, the parts producing arm of the Chrysler Corporation. Enthusiasts who raced Chrysler products of any make over the years have come to refer to their vehicles “Mopar” products rather than by their individual brand names, Chrysler, Plymouth and Dodge. Today, Mopar owners boast that the acronym has multiple other meanings such as “My Own Pure Adrenaline Rush”, but for members of the NJ Mopar Group, the meaning of the word is simple: family.
The men and women of the NJ Mopar Group come in all ages and from all walks of life. They are teachers, college students, police officers, firefighters, business executives, attorneys, truck drivers, and small business owners, all of whom gather together regularly at car shows, charity events, and family outings. With a focus on giving back to the community and supporting the children of St Jude, over 120 group family members raised $2,200 at this year’s Mopar BBQ through raffles and a car show, bringing the 4-year total donation from the event to over $6,000.
The NJ Mopar Group also used the BBQ venue as an opportunity to announce a number of leadership changes within the organization. Dave VanderWekke, president & CEO of the 330-member organization announced the appointment of Chris Clark as chief operating officer of the group.
“Chris’ appointment positions him to manage the day-to-day operation of the group so that I can focus on the growth of our parent corporation, Mopar Muscle Clubs LLC,” said VanderWekke, who founded the organization in 2007. “We will continue to expand the Mopar Muscle Club network of car clubs throughout the northeast.”
“The New Jersey Mopar Group is the flagship organization within the Mopar Muscle Club family, and our leadership team is focused on new ways to grow the club and provide even more value to our members,” said Clark, who has began the search to fill his former position of marketing manager of the group.
The NJ Mopar Group also announced the appointment of Kenny Capobianco and Michelle Capobianco to the positions of sponsor/vendor manager and finance manager respectively. “Kenny and Michelle both have organizational business experience that make them a perfect addition to our leadership team,” said VanderWekke.
“With the recent incorporation of Mopar Muscle Clubs and NJ Mopar Group, we are in a unique position to take the two organizations to a whole new level through expanded relationships with our vendor partners and sponsors, and we will spend much of the fall and winter months on those growth plans,” said VanderWekke.
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About Mopar Muscle Clubs LLC
Mopar Muscle Clubs LLC (MMC LLC), which includes the New Jersey Mopar Owner and Enthusiast Group (NJ Mopar Group), sports a membership of almost 400 early model and modern Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge, Jeep owners and enthusiasts from across the northeast United States. The family-oriented groups, which were founded on the basis of giving back to the community, join together regularly for charity car shows, cruises, and neighborhood events and donate thousands of dollars and volunteer hours to community-based non-profit organizations such as St. Jude Children’s Hospital, TS Alliance, several food pantries within the area, Support the Troops & Veterans Organizations and many more. In addition, MMC LLC is the host car club for the National Muscle Car Association’s Hemi-Shoot Out.
About St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering research and treatment of children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Ranked the No. 1 pediatric cancer hospital by Parents magazine and the No. 1 children’s cancer hospital by U.S. News & World Report, St. Jude is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states and from around the world, serving as a trusted resource for physicians and researchers. St. Jude has developed research protocols that helped push overall survival rates for childhood cancer from less than 20 percent when the hospital opened to almost 80 percent today. St. Jude is the national coordinating center for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium and the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. In addition to pediatric cancer research, St. Jude is also a leader in sickle cell disease research and is a globally prominent research center for influenza. Founded in 1962 by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world, publishing more research articles than any other pediatric cancer research center in the United States. St. Jude treats more than 5,700 patients each year and is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. St. Jude is financially supported by thousands of individual donors, organizations and corporations without which the hospital’s work would not be possible. In 2010, St. Jude was ranked the most trusted charity in the nation in a public survey conducted by Harris Interactive, a highly respected international polling and research firm.