Islanders have a chance this month to win a car — a cream-colored 1965 Plymouth Valiant — and help an Island nonprofit at the same time.
When she died last year, Islander Enid Dolstad left her beloved family car to Preserve Our Islands, the group that has been fighting the expansion of Glacier Northwest’s mining operations for more than a decade.
Now, the group is raffling off Enid’s car, with tickets $5 apiece.
Enid knew her car, which was purchased on Vashon by her parents-in-law in 1965, was worth something, said Enid’s son Doug Dolstad. She chose to donate her vehicle to Preserve Our Islands, he said, because Glacier “was one of the issues she felt strongly about.”
Enid was active in the community, from her membership in the Vashon Democratic Club and the League of Women voters to her enthusiastic letter-writing to legislators on behalf of Preserve Our Islands (POI). It was no surprise, then, Doug said, to hear she’d given her car to a cause she cared so deeply about.
Amy Carey, POI president, said Enid died far too soon but left behind a powerful legacy as a member of the environmental group.
“Enid was one of POI’s earliest members and a strong supporter of the organization,” she said. “The driving force for POI is the commitment of our members and our supporters. She is a shining example of that.”
Doug said it’s ironic that his mother’s car is being raffled off to fund the fight against Glacier on Maury Island.
“In 1904, my ancestors started Vashon Sand and Gravel on Corbin Beach, which is where the car lived,” he said. “The fact that it’s going to a movement to halt mining on Maury — that’s kind of poetic justice.”
His mother, he said, paid close attention to local issues. He described her as a thoughtful, very smart person.
“She went to meetings and took notes, and she followed up and reflected on what should be done,” Doug said. “She was very practical, too. She didn’t just think about things; she acted.”
Carey said her activism is evidenced in the archives of Preserve Our Islands, where Enid’s signature can be found at the end of more than a few impassioned pleas to lawmakers, as well as the gift of her classic car to the organization.
“We feel honored to have had Enid think of us, and again, even in her passing, to continue to be in this fight,” Carey said. “This says a tremendous amount about her.”
The car, she said, has great potential.
“It truly was a grandma’s car, driven on Sundays,” she said. “It is a cool, fun, old car.”
The Plymouth will take part in the Strawberry Festival Grand Parade on July 18 and will be at Preserve Our Islands’ booth during the festival, where people may buy raffle tickets.
The raffle drawing for the car will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, July 19, and the winner does not need to be present to win.
Carey added that people should buy raffle tickets even if they don’t need a Plymouth Valiant of their own.
Should they win but not want the car, Carey said she’ll facilitate the donation of the car to another charity of the winner’s choice.
“Then it keeps on giving,” she said.
Each raffle ticket purchased will take a bite out of POI’s mounting legal expenses, said Carey, who has been president of the nonprofit for two years.
“The money is going to go directly toward the legal defense for protecting Maury Island,” she said. “We are smack-dab in the middle of dueling lawsuits. … Our legal fees right now are pretty enormous.”
