Craig Daily Press

Craig — On Oct. 11, someone in Colorado will win a 2008 Ford XLT F-150 4x4 pickup truck that runs on either gasoline or E-85 ethanol fuel.

That’s because Rocky Mountain Ford stores have donated the pick­up truck to the Colorado 4-H Foun­dation to help raise funds for 4-H.

The truck will be awarded through a raffle, and the recipient might be right here in Craig. But, no matter who gets the truck, there will be lots of winners.

The remaining funds from the raffle tickets will be used to help with special 4-H youth programs. They include, but are not limited to, scholarships, educational trips and expansion of youth programs.

The idea for the vehicle raffle came from Gary Small, Colorado State University executive director of the Colorado 4-H Foundation. He had heard that car companies had donated vehicles to nonprofit organizations for fundraisers.

So, in December 2007, Small began checking it out. He first went to Spradley-Barr Ford and spoke to Karolyn Barr, who referred him to Michael Grammes, Denver Regional Marketing Manager for Ford.

In January 2008, the people at Ford got together and approved the donation of the 2008 XLT F-150 4x4 pickup truck to the Colorado 4-H Foundation. The Foundation received the vehicle in February.

Since then, Small has been busy putting the raffle together. The Foundation by-laws had to be amended so that the organization could obtain a Colorado raffle license and members and leaders could sell tickets.

Posters were designed and printed, and other publicity was arranged. A travel schedule was arranged so that the pickup truck can be displayed around the state.

“Our goal is to have the truck on display at as many county 4-H events as possible between now and October,” Small said. “The funds raised from the raffle will help us provide the 4-H learning experience to many more kids in Colorado. We greatly appreciate Ford becoming an official sponsor of the Colorado 4-H program.”

The raffle drawing will take place Oct. 11. It will be held during a Metro Area Support 4-H (M*A*S*H) Gala at Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver.

Although the gala still is in the planning stages, Small said there will be both a live and silent auction, entertainment and an opportunity for people to have their pictures taken with the airplanes.

Alisa Comstock, Moffat County 4-H Youth Development agent, said that Moffat County is responsible for selling 100 raffle tickets. Currently, they are available at the Moffat County Extension Office. The tickets cost $20 each and will be sold for the next six months.

The Colorado State University 4-H Youth Development Program teaches more than 100,000 youths, 5 to 18 years old, life skills each year, learned through hands-on projects in 40 different areas.

This year, the 4-H program is putting emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math during project work.

For example, while completing a livestock project, 4-Hers use math to figure expenses, gains and losses. Engineering comes into play when members design rockets in rocketry projects.

Funds raised from the Ford pickup truck raffle will be used to continue developing 4-H programs.