Hundreds expected at Hot Rods event, Celina Record

Hundreds expected to attend Hot Dogs and Hot Rods event in Prosper Lisa Ferguson, lferguson@starlocalmedia.com Jun 9, 2016 Diane Galloway doesn’t speak fluent car, but she’s working on it. After all, the executive director of Bethlehem Place Community Food Pantry in Prosper doesn’t have much choice in the matter. She must be able to communicate with many of the hundreds of people who turn out each year for the charity’s popular Hot Dogs and Hot Rods Charity Car Show. “There are definitely car guys and they speak a whole different language than me, and that’s OK,” she said. “I’m learning.” More than 75 classic and souped-up vehicles will be on display at the fifth annual event scheduled Saturday at Frontier Park, 1551 W. Frontier Parkway, in Prosper. Admission is free. Most of the rides are privately owned by car enthusiasts, many of them members of car clubs from throughout North Texas, who pay $25 to show off their vehicles at Hot Dogs and Hot Rods. “We have some folks in the community who bring their cars to show every year,” Galloway said. “I don’t know how many other car shows they go to, but they always come to ours.” The cars will be evaluated by a team of judges who will award trophies to winners in several categories including Best in Class, Oldest Car, Farthest Traveled, Best Interior and Coolest Paint. The public can also purchase $1 tickets during the event that will allow them to vote for their favorite cars in the People’s Choice, Ladies’ Choice and Kids’ Choice categories. “The cars are amazing and they get better every year. We have some amazing ones coming this year,” Galloway said, including a nearly century-old Ford Model T. True to its name, hot dogs as well as soda and chips will be available for purchase during the show. Galloway said following the event, a “run” has been scheduled for vehicles owners who wish to caravan through the streets of Prosper and meet up for more car talk at the Sonic Drive-In at 150 N. Preston Road. Through Hot Dogs and Hot Rods, Bethlehem Place hopes to raise more than $11,000 which will help fund the food pantry that has been serving clients in Prosper for a quarter century. It is the beneficiary of numerous food drives that are held throughout the community each year including the “Stuff the Bus” drive that is sponsored by schools within Prosper ISD. More than 6 tons of food were collected as a result of last year’s bus-stuffing efforts. “I speak to a lot of groups and mostly what I hear is, `There aren’t any poor people’” in Prosper, when in fact there are, Galloway said. “It is people that you see day to day who have lost a job, can’t make their rent, need help temporarily, so we’re here for that, too,” she said, by providing food and hygiene products to more than 30 families each week. All of the 150 clients in the nonprofit organization’s database must meet income guidelines set by the North Texas Food Bank, with which Bethlehem Place partners. For now, the pantry operates out of what Galloway calls a “glorified shed” in the parking lot of Prosper United Methodist Church, 205 S. Church St. However, a search is underway to secure a new facility. “We would love to be in a more permanent home,” Galloway said, “but for right now we are blessed to have where we are and we’re making it work.”