After six months of ticket sales that raised $26,450, the Parkland Education Foundation chose the winner of a donated 1969 MGB Roadster at the Harlem Wizards Game Nov. 21, 2019, at Parkland High School.

The winner, Anne DeSantos, an employee at American Bank, was not in the 1,200-plus crowd of people, but was a local winner.

The car donation was a generous gesture on behalf of Barry and Marcy Dobil, owners of Josh Early Candies, and high school sweethearts, who both graduated with Parkland’s Class of 1969.

Barry Dobil told the 1,200-plus crowd he wanted to give back to the school in honor of teachers who made a difference in his life.

He also recognized the Parkland Education Foundation’s efforts to make innovation grants to teachers who are in turn doing amazing things in their classrooms.

Dobil personally took the car raffle to car shows over the summer, community events, and every home football game to help the foundation sell tickets and tout the benefits of owning the small, yellow convertible.

The totally restored 1969 MGB Roadster convertible was a love project from the beginning.

Dobil owned the car for the last 30 years and the car has about 60,000 miles on it as well as a relatively new engine, but the interior needed work as the seats were worn and tattered and the carpeting was in need of replacement.

To get the car ready for the raffle, Dobil contacted Moss Motors, which supplies MGB parts, and company representatives were moved by his enthusiasm and commitment to his alma mater and generously agreed to donate all the parts needed for an interior restoration.

Generosity and passion are contagious because Dobil next contacted Lehigh Career and Technical Institute teacher Carey Troxell in the auto body/collision repair technology program and asked if he and his students might be up to the task of installing the new parts.

Troxell and his Parkland students, Hailey Booth, Luis Solano and Nicholas Lopez, took on the challenge, and the car now sports new black leather seats with red piping, new carpeting, three-point seat belts, and trim work.

Next, Integrity Auto gave the car an extensive mechanical renewal including a change of all fluids, Pennsylvania state inspection and a tuneup at no charge.

And finally, Ruozzi Brothers Classic Cars donated its services to detail the car, making its chrome sparkle.

“Barry and Marcy’s generosity has been an inspiration to me personally and to so many others. We had tickets that were purchased by MG lovers from all over the country. It’s great that it went to someone local,” stated Lisa Ervin, executive director for the Parkland Education Foundation. “This morning’s car presentation to a winner who actually attended Parkland Schools was a perfect end to this raffle.”