Anyone who wants to take a chance at winning a 2002 Jaguar XJS convertible, valued at $82,000, while helping a nonprofit charity, should listen to a fund-raising plan by John Franks and Douglas Rohrer.

        Mr. Rohrer is a software developer and Mr. Franks is a section chief in the Hearing Loss Division at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

        They founded YourNewCar.org, a nonprofit organization that raises money for charities by raffling off a Jaguar. They have selected the Home Ownership Center of Greater Cincinnati in Corryville to receive the first grant.

        “We hope to utilize the Internet to help charities increase their funding base,” Mr. Rohrer said.

        Mr. Rohrer said tickets are available only on the Internet with payment by major credit cards.

        He said they will sell 10,000 tickets at $20 each.

        “After we purchase the car and cover expenses, we expect to give the Home Ownership Center $95,000 or $100,000,'' Mr. Rohrer said.

        Mr. Franks said they started talking about the idea several months ago.

        “We did searches to make sure we were not duplicating anybody else,” he said. “We have no idea how long the raffle will last. Our plans are to continue selling tickets until we have sold all of them.”

        Patricia Rohrer, director of marketing and research for the Home Ownership Center, said the mission of the center is to strengthen communities through comprehensive home ownership strategies.

        “We focus on every aspect of home ownership,” she said. She is the wife of Douglas Rohrer.

        She said the center provides services, such as home buyer education and counseling; affordable home mortgages, provided in cooperation with local lenders; down payment and closing cost assistance, home improvement financing and home maintenance classes.

        For more information about the raffle, call Mr. Franks at 271-3305 or Mr. Rohrer at 871-0586 or visit www.YourNewCar.org and www.hometoday.cc.

        The choir at the Zion Temple First Pentecostal Church, 3771 Reading Road, Avondale, will present its fourth annual Ethnic Brunch at 11 a.m. Sunday.

        Gloria Hayes, CEO of Caring Hearts Home Health Care Inc., is the sponsor. The brunch will include a Celebration of Our Rich Heritage program, highlighting such outstanding people as Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Ralph Bunche, Marian Anderson, W.E.B. Du Bois, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and also a recognition of the church pastor, Bishop Jasper J. Phillips and his wife, B.K. Phillips.

        Allen Howard's “Some Good News” column runs Monday-Friday and Sundays. If you have suggestions about outstanding achievements, or people who are committing random acts of kindness that are uplifting to the Tristate, let him know at (513) 768-8362; at ahoward@enquirer.com; or by fax at (513) 768-8340.
       

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