Raffle winner collects coveted pickup truck
<p>Gene Lenz smiles as he remembers the night he got the call that he had won the raffle for the Toyota Tacoma (in background).</p>
Twenty dollars was all it took for Gene and Jackie Lenz of Kalispell to win a 2011 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.
"It's quite a capital gain," Gene Lenz said.
The Lenzes won the car after entering a Kalispell Public Schools raffle by purchasing two $10 tickets for the new truck, which was donated by Kalispell Toyota.
He was eager to drive the shiny white truck home Friday after being handed the car keys at Kalispell Toyota. This is the second year Kalispell Toyota has donated a vehicle for the raffle, according to owner Gerrid Gandrud.
Gandrud said the dealership will donate another vehicle - most likely another Tacoma - for next year's raffle.
The winning ticket was drawn at the Sept. 30 crosstown football game between Flathead and Glacier high schools.
At the time, Gene and Jackie Lenz were on vacation in Washington. It did not take long for the news to reach them.
"The phone started ringing at halftime of the game and never stopped ringing until 11:30 at night," Gene Lenz said.
The first call was from family friend Mick Hagestad.
"I accused Mick of pulling my leg," Gene Lenz said. "We got so many calls we believed it."
Jackie Lenz said her grandchildren were excited to hear the news.
"We got a grandson ... that doesn't have a license yet, saying, ‘Remember me,'" she said. "He already told somebody, ‘Maybe I'll get it.'"
Kalispell Public Schools activity groups also were winners because the raffle raised more than $60,000, significantly higher than last year's $25,000.
School Superintendent Darlene Schottle said the money will go directly to the activity groups that sold tickets.
"Each of the activity groups can put the money toward what they feel is most important for their programming needs," Schottle said. "It might go toward everything from library books, or art supplies in an elementary school, to offsetting the cost of travel for one of the activity programs. It's a great asset to have these additional funds so the students don't have to engage in other types of fundraisers."
Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com