About Cruzin' for Life
Cruzin' for Life was founded in 2004 by Clifford Labastida. He and his other car enthusiast brothers had this brilliant idea to have an alternative way to raise funds to fight cancer and have fun doing so: Cars. Clifford enlisted six other good friends to form the Cruzin' for Life Board of Directors; all of who were either born in or long time Santa Maria residences.
2004 - Our first event was hosted in the parking lot of St Joseph High School, then on to cruise Old Orcutt. We had about 40 cars registered and cruised from Old Broadway to the Jack in the Box and back with just a few cancer survivors. The dinner, hosted at the St Joseph gym had about 250 guests and a Silent Auction. Even though we had little idea of what we were doing and only 3.5 months to plan, we somehow managed to donate $15,000 to American Cancer Society.
2005 - Outgrowing St Joseph's parking lot for the car show we moved to Old Orcutt, using the same cancer survivor cruise route as 2004. Old Orcutt was also the home for our first burn-out contest. With about 300 + spectators we no idea of what a big thing we had started, the annual burn-out contest was official! The dinner that year had about 300 guests, with a Silent & Live Auction, we almost doubled our donation giving American Cancer Society $28,000.
2006 - The car show and cancer survivor cruise were once again hosted in Old Orcutt with close to 100 cruisers this time. We moved the burn-out competition to SM Airport property for safety reasons and good thing because we had close to 1500 spectators! The dinner, still at St. Joseph's gym hosted about 450 guests. Between the day events, dinner and the Silent & Live Auction we almost doubled 2005 with a total donation of $52,000. This was the first year we split the donation between American Cancer Society and the Marian Cancer Care Center.
2007 - Once again out-growing our venue we moved the car show and cancer survivor cruise base to the SM Airport property getting to cruise up and down Broadway with law enforcement escorts closing intersections as the cruisers passed by. The cruisers and cancer survivors had a great time waiving at family and friends as they cruised downtown Santa Maria. Knowing that the burn-out contest was still very popular we moved it to Sunday, it was too much hosting all 3 events in one day. By the way, 2007 burn-out had over 3000 attendees. The dinner was sold out and then some, it broke our hearts but we actually turned people away for the dinner. The Silent & Live auctions were a huge success again thanks to our generous community. The 3 events grossed just over $100,000, enabling us to donate $40,000 to Marian Cancer Care Center and $30,000 to American Cancer Society, from that $30,000 - $10,000 went towards research and $20,000 went towards the Young Cancer Survivor Scholarship Program.
In 2008 we moved all 3 events at the SM Fairpark. We also worked out with the city to close Broadway, both sides, for our cancer survivor cruise. The Saturday evening dinner/auction took place after the worst day in the stock market in years, CFL still raised over $100,000 at our Live Auction. We donated $100,000 and, in spite of the economy, and in large part due to the heart of this community, we have donated $100,000 in 2009 and in 2010.
Also, of the monies we raised over the years during our Cruzin' for Life event:
- 2% was administrative
- 23% was event expenses
- 75% was straight donation
All funds donated remain local and have helped to fund:
- American Cancer Society
- Research. Hopefully, one day, there will not only be a cure for all cancers, but a vaccine!
- Young Survivor's Scholarship Fund. This scholarship fund is for college bound students whose parents are dealing with the costs of keeping their child alive.
- Camp Reach for the Stars. This is a camp for kids and their families who are dealing with cancer.
- Marian Cancer Care Center.
- Cancer Patient Outreach Fund. This is a discretionary fund which covers needs that insurance does not, such as transportation & housing while in treatment, mortgage payments, car payments, utility bills, child care, etc.
For more information, email us: cruzinforlife@verizon.net
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