Woman wins new car in club benefit

Yolanda Garcia was thinking of getting a new car. She just didn't know she'd be getting it for free.

Garcia, who won the grand prize in a benefit for the Boys & Girls Club of Western Nevada, returned home from work on Wednesday just about the same time as the drawing at the Pinon Plaza.

Ready to relax after a holiday busy with relatives, she jokingly asked her boyfriend Federico Banuelos, "Has anyone called about the car yet?"

"No," he replied. It didn't take long, though, for Garcia to find out she did indeed win a car donated by Dick Campagni, who owns Carson City Toyota/Mazda and Capitol Ford.

Cathy Blankenship, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club, called Garcia on Thursday morning to confirm her win. By then, Garcia had already heard from her friend Wally Earhart.

"Wally said he heard the last name of the winner was Garcia. Then they said the first name, Yolanda, and he knew it was me.

"I called the Boys & Girls Club early Thursday morning and talked with Mark Jacoby. I told him I heard a rumor that I had won, but Garcia is kind of a common name so I wanted to know for sure. And he said, 'Yes.' "

Garcia, who works for Sen. Harry Reid and was executive secretary for ex-Gov. Bob Miller, said she recently was thinking of getting a new car. She had a new transmission put in her 1992 Dodge Dynasty, "which drives beautifully, by the way," said Garcia.

"I've never won anything this big before. I was so excited. After Wally called, I couldn't go to sleep for a very long time."

Garcia's name was drawn from hundreds of tickets. She will have her choice of a new Ford Focus or Toyota Echo.

"I want to go down there (dealerships) and check out the cars," said Garcia. "I'm tall, so I want to see which one feels the best, for me."

Garcia, well known in Carson City for her belly-dancing classes, purchased three tickets for the drawing. She put her name on two and her boyfriend's on the third.

According to Blankenship, the Pinon Plaza sold the bulk of the tickets for the giveaway. The actual check for the proceeds from the drawing will presented in about a month.

"I'm guessing we will receive about $10,000 to $12,000," said Blankenship. "I think that's a good ballpark figure."

The money will go into the general operating account to help keep the club open. It takes about $850,000 a year to operate the Boys & Girls Club.

"I do it for the kids," said Campagni, a member of the Boys & Girls Club board. "Over the years we've given away several cars to help our community's kids."

"Without the kind of support we get from Dick Campagni and people like him, we'd be hard-pressed to keep a roof over all those kids' heads at the Boys & Girls Club," said Jeff Ackerman, club board member.

"Dick's latest donation of a car is just one in a long series of contributions he's made to our club."