September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month. The Wilson dealerships were presented with an incredible opportunity to support the cause of pediatric brain cancer research through their partnership with the McKenna Claire Foundation. The story begins with McKenna Wetzel, a beautiful little girl, who was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), incurable brain cancer, at the age of 7. When she lost her battle just two weeks shy of her 8th birthday, her parents established the Foundation that bears her name to bring awareness and fund research for this deadly cancer. It is their hope that the Foundation find the path to a cure so that no other family has to suffer a loss such as theirs. McKenna loved turquoise, and loved butterflies; and her drawings inspired the Foundation’s logo. Throughout the month of September, McKenna’s butterflies could be seen in all our dealerships. As employees and customers became more aware of McKenna’s story, the donations began to pour in. The stores started a competition to see who could raise the most money for this great cause. You can see the results in these photos. Chessie Stakeman led the Tustin Lexus team to victory with total donations of $3,000. Cayte Macias and the Weir Canyon team were a close second at $2,700. With Toyota and Lexus matching funds and some additional vendor support, we were able to present the McKenna Claire Foundation with a check for $61,018.75. You can see more about McKenna’s story at mckennaclairefoundation.org.
