They brought her home 28 years ago and now it's time to shake off the rust and find their beloved a new place to park.
Jim and Pat Murray's 1984 Cadillac Eldorado is receiving from TLC from students of the auto shop class at Patrick Fogarty Catholic Secondary School, and they're doing it for a good cause. It will be auctioned Dec. 18, with proceeds going to The Sharing Place food bank.
Auction proceeds go to a charity of the donor's choice, and the Murrays chose The Sharing Place -- a gesture that brought Shawna Ballik, operations manager at the food bank, to tears.
"It's incredible that somebody is willing to take something that means the world to them and give it to our cause and recognize the need," she said.
Indeed, the Cadillac holds a special place in the hearts of the Murrays.
"It was our go-getter car," said Pat, whose husband bought the vehicle in 1987; it has been sitting in their Phelpston barn since 1997. "And now, when it gets fixed up, we hope someone is going to take it out on nice, sunny days and take good care of it."
For the past four years, students, with the help of their teacher, Dave Detta, have fixed up cars for charity auctions held at the end of the year.
"I like helping out around class. Lots of people are struggling in Orillia, and we are a family and we need to show them we care and support them," said Destiny Parkinson, a Grade 10 student who loves to tinker with engines in the garage with her grandfather.
Detta believes it is essential communities come together to help kids in town. For his students, it gives them a chance to participate in a project and be proud of themselves.
"This is a good opportunity to learn about an older car made before my time," said Mason Morano, a Grade 12 student. "It's better to donate something than to throw it away. I've done four charity auction cars and the last one, a Hyundai Accent (in) 2009, was chosen by me and my friends."
The car Morano was talking about was donated by Orillia Hyundai, which joined the auction project three years ago and wanted students to fix up a car every year to be auctioned off to raise money for breast-cancer research.
"It's this kind of local partnerships we're looking to make," said Detta. "We still need community support for redoing the car's interior upholstery."
With the Cadillac, Detta noted, costs are being taken care of by donations from the community and funds raised by students.
Jim and Pat Murray's 1984 Cadillac Eldorado is receiving from TLC from students of the auto shop class at Patrick Fogarty Catholic Secondary School, and they're doing it for a good cause. It will be auctioned Dec. 18, with proceeds going to The Sharing Place food bank.
Auction proceeds go to a charity of the donor's choice, and the Murrays chose The Sharing Place -- a gesture that brought Shawna Ballik, operations manager at the food bank, to tears.
"It's incredible that somebody is willing to take something that means the world to them and give it to our cause and recognize the need," she said.
Indeed, the Cadillac holds a special place in the hearts of the Murrays.
"It was our go-getter car," said Pat, whose husband bought the vehicle in 1987; it has been sitting in their Phelpston barn since 1997. "And now, when it gets fixed up, we hope someone is going to take it out on nice, sunny days and take good care of it."
For the past four years, students, with the help of their teacher, Dave Detta, have fixed up cars for charity auctions held at the end of the year.
"I like helping out around class. Lots of people are struggling in Orillia, and we are a family and we need to show them we care and support them," said Destiny Parkinson, a Grade 10 student who loves to tinker with engines in the garage with her grandfather.
Detta believes it is essential communities come together to help kids in town. For his students, it gives them a chance to participate in a project and be proud of themselves.
"This is a good opportunity to learn about an older car made before my time," said Mason Morano, a Grade 12 student. "It's better to donate something than to throw it away. I've done four charity auction cars and the last one, a Hyundai Accent (in) 2009, was chosen by me and my friends."
The car Morano was talking about was donated by Orillia Hyundai, which joined the auction project three years ago and wanted students to fix up a car every year to be auctioned off to raise money for breast-cancer research.
"It's this kind of local partnerships we're looking to make," said Detta. "We still need community support for redoing the car's interior upholstery."
With the Cadillac, Detta noted, costs are being taken care of by donations from the community and funds raised by students.