Auto Dealers Dollars for Schools to Give $50,000 in Orange County

    COSTA MESA, Calif.--Oct. 25, 2002--Both high schools will be winners when Costa Mesa and Estancia each receive a $25,000 check at halftime at their annual cross-town football game in Orange County. Representatives of Harbor Boulevard of Cars, an auto dealer association in Costa Mesa, will present the checks to the principals of the two schools. The game will be held at Estancia High School, 2323 Placentia Avenue in Costa Mesa.
    The $50,000 donation is the latest gift from the Dollars for Schools program sponsored by the auto dealers. The program has now given $250,000 to projects in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District since the auto dealers launched Dollars for Schools two years ago.
    The gift to Estancia High School is for its stadium construction project. Costa Mesa High School's gift is designated to its proposed 50-meter aquatic facility. The two athletic facilities are to be used by both high schools. A $7 million fundraising project -- Costa Mesa United -- is being conducted by the Costa Mesa Community Athletic Foundation to benefit both high schools.
    "The Dollars for Schools program is intended to fund significant resource acquisition, educational programs, and facility improvements to enhance quality education in the district," said Jon Gray, a past president of the Motor Car Dealers Association of Costa Mesa and a participant in the halftime ceremony. "These two $25,000 gifts follow a $40,000 gift we made last spring that funds athletic trainers for all boy's and girl's sports throughout the district. That gift allowed expansion of the certified training staff which plays a very important role in the safety of the student athletes," added Gray.
    The Motor Car Dealers Association of Costa Mesa, commonly called the Harbor Boulevard of Cars, achieved over $650 million in new and used car sales in 2001. Annual sales volume by these new car dealers generates more than $50 million in sales tax for California with more than $6.5 million in sales tax returned to local governments. Association members invest more than $10 million annually in local advertising to attract customers to the dealerships in Costa Mesa.