For her 75th birthday Kay Keeler rode 33 miles in the Tour de Lopez and raised $6,000 to support the Farm and Garden Program at the Lopez School.
A few weeks later, Keeler was in Lopez Village and walked by a little yellow electric GEM car with a FOR SALE sign on the window. She quickly scribbled a note for the owner - saying, "I want to buy your car. Come for dinner and let's talk."
The owners of the car, Rod and Dawn Riddell called Keeler, enjoyed dinner together and a transaction followed suit. Kay Keeler was on “fund-raising” fire again, this time to buy the car and raffle it off in support of the new Seed Library, a project of the Lopez Community Land Trust.
Keeler is a board member and active fundraiser for LCLT. She feels passionately about supporting LCLT's program in sustainable agriculture, affordable housing and sustainable energy.
An eye-catching raffle prize, the electric car/truck has only about 1,600 miles on it and can plug into any standard 110V outlet. The electricity cost of “refueling” the GEM car is less than two cents/mile, compared to 16 cents/mile for a typical 25 mile/gallon vehicle. It seats two persons, can haul stuff in the back and has a maximum 30-mile range, according to the manufacturer. It has a top speed of 25 mph—no worry about being ticketed for speeding!
The cute yellow GEM car is now a constant feature of the Lopez Farmer's Market on Saturdays, for public display at the LCLT's booth. LCLT board and staff are there each week selling tickets. Tickets can be purchased for a chance to win this little GEM at $5 each or 6 for $25. The lucky winner will be chosen in October during the LCLT Harvest Dinner.
The car may also be seen on the road, driven by residents of Common Ground, the 4th LCLT housing neighborhood. “We have a temporary car-share program to increase the vehicle visibility around the island for LCLT until the car is raffled off in October. It's a great vehicle for running errands including bringing garbage cans to the transfer station.” said Chris Greacen, a Common Ground resident.
“We each pay a $10 entry fee plus 15 cents per mile driven and 15 cents per hour checked out to help LCLT cover the insurance and other costs. It's a great deal for us and plus less fossil fuel is burned this way” said Greacen.
Proceeds from raffle tickets will be used to build a Seed Library for Lopez. “The goal of the project is to improve food security, self-sufficiency and economic stability amongst farmers and gardeners on the island through seed saving of tried-and-true varieties of local organic food crops,” said Sandy Bishop, Executive Director of LCLT.
(Written by Chom Greacen and Lopez Community Land Trust, the article first appeared in the Islands Weekly in June 2011.)
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