Local gearheads turned out with their prized rides at Carbon Career and Technical Institute on Saturday, with the proceeds from the show going to help local animal shelters.

The event, “Cars for Paws,” was the brainchild of SkillsUSA students Austin Miller, 16, Owen Everett, 17, and Malynda Peabody, 17. The three CCTI students decided to get a head start on next year’s SkillsUSA project, and help out with a local problem.“You see all of these stray cats and dogs everywhere, and it’s a shame to see them without a home,” Everett said. “With all of these cat and dog shelters overwhelmed with all of the strays, no one wants to adopt them. So, we thought, let’s bring some awareness for these stray animals. They need homes, food, and funding, and we thought it would be a great idea to bring it all together like this.”In order to attract some good attention and spread awareness, the group looked to the local area for inspiration.“The car community is rather large in this area, so we decided it would be best if we did something with that for our fundraiser,” Miller said.Anyone with an interest in showing their vehicle paid a $10 fee, which went to Carbon County Friends of Animals in Jim Thorpe and the shelter in Nesquehoning. Spectators were able to look around for free, but donations were encouraged. Food and 50/50 ticket sales also went to the shelters.Despite the cool and somewhat dreary weather, Lenny Ahner was happy to get his Studebaker-made Rockne.“We go to car shows and donate to charities, and to get out of the house,” Ahner said as he showed the pristine vehicle that he bought from his brother-in-law last year. “It’s a 1932 Rockne, a rare car. This car was made for Knute Rockne, the football player, back in ‘32, but he died before he got to see the first one come off of the assembly line.”Gail Miller, Austin’s mother, came out to support her son’s project, and also to check out some tricked out and restored vehicles.“I’ve always had an interest in fast cars, sports cars, older cars. I’ve always been a car fanatic. Some of these are really nice, really sharp,” Miller, who brought her more modern, souped-up Chevy to the show, said.Gail Plesniarski and her family, husband Jeff Leslie, and twins Alex and Luke, the fundraiser was a perfect opportunity to have fun and show support for the community.“It’s something fun to do with the family, and we always love to support CCTI,” Plesniarski said. “Because this is also supporting our local shelters, we thought we would come out and see some cars. I like to inspire interests with our kids, because you never know, this may be a hobby that they have one day.”CCTI Administrative Director David Reinbold was thrilled with the project, and the students’ drive to help out.“I want to congratulate all of our students and staff for all the hard work they did putting this together. It’s going to a great cause. I’m really proud of the fact that they took the initiative to start this project a year early,” he said.For the SkillsUSA group, the core of the fundraiser was based in bringing a number of different groups together in order to support a great cause, and they most certainly succeeded in their effort.“SkillsUSA is something where you show what you can do to help the people in your community,” Peabody said. “With our community project, bringing us three and the community together to help with a local problem was the best thing that we could possibly do.”