Sara Shaw won a Goat, and she couldn’t be more excited.
The Goat is an electric off-road cart that will be used at White Memorial Camp near Council Grove, where Shaw is executive director.
The Fairplay Goat HV, which feeds on electricity rather than tin cans, is a “lifted” electric vehicle with fat tires that is built to travel over the rough terrain beyond streets and highways.
The vehicle was the prize in a national contest for nonprofit organizations held by Fairplay Car Co. and Golf Car Advisor Magazine.
Shaw had sent in her entry after someone involved with the camp told her about an advertisement he had seen about the contest.
“I couldn’t believe they were giving one away nationally, and I couldn’t believe they picked us,” Shaw said.
The president of Fairplay called Shaw shortly before she was to meet with the conference council.
“I thought, ‘Oh, this is such awesome news to give,’” she said. “What a way to start off my first year at White Memorial.”
Shaw for several years had been executive director of Camp Alexander, east of Emporia. She accepted the director’s job at White last year and within a short time wrote the letter that brought a new Goat to camp.
“The company president (Keith Andrews) helped me figure out what would best suit our needs here. He had a couple of suggestions for me,” she said. “He was super-friendly.”
Fairplay’s National Sales Manager Ryan Alexander said that the Goat was well-suited for a camp environment.
“It’s got an area in the back to hold stuff, coolers,” he said. The area also can flip up into additional seating for passengers.
That will be especially useful at White Memorial Camp.
Shaw will pick up the cart from the Emporia Fairplay dealer, Cooper’s Carts, 10 Commercial St., where she went last month to look over the prize she’d won for the camp.
The contest was simple and challenging simultaneously. All that was required from the charities eligible to enter was a letter stating why the vehicle was needed. Shaw also sent a little background and historical information about the camp.
“And then I didn’t hear anything,” she said.
By October, she was curious about what was happening and resubmitted the letter, with a few changes, and let them know she was following up on the contest.
“It was shortly thereafter that I got a phone call from the president of Fairplay Cars,” she said.
The win delighted Shaw, because the current transporter has to be coddled before it will even move.
“We have an old gas-powered golf cart with three seats,” she said. “It is so old, that in order to get it to go you have to pull the choke out and put a clothespin on it to get it to move. It doesn’t have enough oomph to it.”
Shaw said the Goat will be an especially useful tool to help people with developmental disabilities enjoy more of the overall camping experience.
“Now that we have this Goat, oh my gosh, these people are going to get to see parts of the camp they’ve never seen before,” Shaw said.
hellfirebluefish (anonymous) says...
Congrats Sarah, as a former employee of WMC, you and the camp deserve it. GM
February 1, 2010 at 5:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )