Community Corner
A 'Whole Town Effort'
The Pottstown Classics Car Club, local businesses and community volunteers --including PV local -- on Saturday raised money to refurbish a disabled veteran's 1967 Ford Galaxie 500.
A fund to pay for the restoration of a car owned by a disabled U.S. soldier was down to its last $10 when Collegeville resident Bill Struble donated money from his veteran's benefits to help the cause.
Struble, who served in the U.S. Army in Saigon during the early 1970s, recently gave $500 of his disability income -- due to his exposure to Agent Orange -- to the Herron Project. The venture, led by the , aims to restore a 1967 Ford Galaxie 500 owned by Brad Herron, a local disabled U.S. Army veteran who served for six years in Iraq, Afghanistan and areas hit by Hurricane Katrina.
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"I wanted to help ... on behalf of all the veterans," said Struble. "Plus, I'm a Ford fan."
Struble owned a 1968 Galaxie. He also had to give up his yellow 1960 Chevy Impala when he was drafted into the Army, he said.
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On Saturday, Struble was at Sanatoga's for a PCCC Herron Project fund-raiser where he displayed his silver 1999 Ford Mustang.
The event, which included Boyertown-based Wicked Effects Car Club and Boobie Nation, plus donations made last week raised nearly $1,500, said PCCC's Don Villanova.
The Herron car -- painted shiny vermilion, said Jim Brennan, owner of Pottstown's Brennan's Auto Repair -- needs roughly $3,000 to be completed. When done, the car will include about $50,000 in parts and labor, said Gary Pace, who handles public relations for PCCC.
"It took our club and the community and the businesses," Pace said of work on the project, which included help from local high school students. "This was a whole town effort."
Pace said the car will be presented to Herron during one of PCCC's upcoming monthly shows in Pottstown.
"This town has always been a good place for cruising," he said and added the shows bring in about 3,000 to 5,000 people. The next will be held May 5, he said. "(They're) good for our businesses ... and the whole community comes together."
Pace said he hopes other communities and car clubs will unite to help their local U.S. military veterans.
Bill Silvershein, owner of Pottstown , which worked on the Herron project, echoed that sentiment.
"I've always volunteered for things to help the military," he said. "And all my employees were very influential on getting the (work on the Herron project) done ... It's not about us. It's about the vets."
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