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Press Releases by Mandy Williams Reimert
June 6, 2002
Ferrari
Challenge Driver Devotes Racing to Fulfill Children's Wishes
Houston,
TX For Mandy Williams Reimert, every race is a victory. Each
time she puts a wheel on the track, she wins. But
it's not because she finishes the race first. It's because
a she is able to "share the power of a wish." Her
#19 Make-A-Wish Ferrari 360 Challenge car prominently carries
the Make-A-Wish logo, a non-profit organization dedicated
to granting the special wishes of children with terminal or
life-threatening illnesses. Mandy hopes to share this powerful
message with the vast number of spectators who will enjoy
the Ferrari Challenge race at Montreal as part of the Formula
1 Grand Prix spectacle on June 9, 2002.
The names and messages that appear on the car's distinctive
white stripe are from major donors and Wish-makers. The graphics
will remain on the car for all remaining 2002 Challenge races,
including the prestigious Montreal and U.S. Grand Prix Formula
1 events. After only three Ferrari Challenge races in 2002,
she has already raised $75,000. 100% of the proceeds go to
the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Reimert competes in the Ferrari Challenge as a member of the
Challenge Championship-winning Ferrari of Houston dealership
team. Since 1994, the series is comprised of gentlemen/lady
drivers who race their own Ferrari's. Hired professional drivers
are not allowed. Traditional sponsorship is practically non-existent.
The owner/drivers are all achievers who are enjoying the fruits
of their labor and the thrill of competition in one of the
world's most desired sports cars.
In that
regard, Mandy Williams Reimert fits the pattern. After earning
her masters degree at the NYU/London School of Business and
accomplishing great success in the private sector, she is
now president of her own financial management consultant company,
The CEA Group. However, her success in business is not what
motivates her.
Mandy
has three passions in her life: Her family, her racing and
Make-A-Wish. With the support of a loving husband and three
step-children, she is able to combine her love of racing with
her dedication to Make-A-Wish, where she is on the Board of
Directors for the Make-A-Wish Foundation for the Texas Gulf
Coast and is one of the foundation's leading fundraisers.
Her racing program was developed to raise awareness of Make-A-Wish,
and to establish an endowment to ensure that Make-A Wish will
always have the resources to make wishes cometrue. To that
end, Mandy has devoted her entire racing program toraising
funds for Make-A-Wish.
Mandy's
first race car, a stock Porsche 996, was entered in Porsche
Club events in 1999 - 2001. During that time, Mandy raised
$215,000 for Make-A-Wish. When she decided to compete in the
Grand-Am sanctioned Ferrari Challenge series, Reimert recognized
an even greater opportunity to raise funds and awareness for
M-A-W. Her goal for 2002 is to match or exceed the amount
she raised in two years of Porsche Club racing.
MAKE-A-WISH
CHILD MAKES DRIVER'S DREAM COME TRUE
One Wish
Child found her way indirectly to Mandy. One day, during a
Porsche Club racing weekend, Mandy was approached by another
race car driver who identified himself as the father of a
Wish Child. He made donation and asked that his daughter's
name, Ashley, be put on Mandy's Porsche 996 race car.
Not knowing
the fate of this man's daughter, Mandy asked what Ashley's
wish was. He described Ashley's wish to meet the Sesame Street
characters, which Make-A-Wish made happen. At the next race,
he asked for a picture of Ashley's name on the car, which
Mandy happily arranged.
Several months later at Road Atlanta, a little girl came up
to Mandy and said, "You're the lady with my name on her
race car, aren't you?"
It was
Ashley. That day Mandy got a wish of her own. She drove Ashley
for three laps around Road Atlanta.
"That
moment was worth it all," beamed Mandy. "There is
no race I could win, not Montreal, not Indianapolis, or even
the 24 Hours of Daytona,.nothing, that would top the feeling
I had when I when I drove Ashley around the track. Those were
true victory laps."
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