The Driving Force Behind Fuelicious

Writer / Janelle Morrison Photos provided by Fuelicious The Artomobilia team and its partners are gearing up for the 2nd Annual Fuelicious event held at the 33-acre Lucas Oil Estate in Carmel, on Friday, August 26, 2016. In quickly becoming one of the must attend events of the summer, Fuelicious excites the senses by delivering a premium culinary experience, uncompromised access to an unbelievable collection of automobiles, a premier audience of committed automotive enthusiasts all in the elegant surroundings of the Lucas Oil Estate. Combine that environment with knowledge that the proceeds go to support the great work of the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund and you have a can’t miss event. Purpose drives the focus of this event by combining the awareness and the resources of automotive enthusiasts, business leaders, and local personalities in supporting the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund. Indiana Children’s Wish Fund is a 501(c )(3) and single-entity, statewide wish-granting organization focused on Indiana children, ages 3-18, with life-threatening or terminal illness. Indiana Children’s Wish Fund is not affiliated with any other wish-granting organizations. It was founded in August of 1984 and is celebrating over 30 years of wish granting. The “wish” Children are referred to the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund by their doctors, nurses, social workers, parents, etc. John Leonard, the Executive Director of Artomobilia and founder of Fuelicious, described what participants, sponsors and guests should expect to experience during this year’s Artmobilia and Fuelicious events. “I go to a number of car events around the country each year and one of my favorites my family and I attend is the Monterey Car week,” Leonard said. “Thousands of people come from all over the country to check out all of that show’s events. They come out because it’s a beautiful location but more so because of the content of the cars is fantastic. In a course of 4 -5 days, attendees can enjoy between 5 and 10 different events and each event is tailored for a specific demographic. The entire experience is high-end and offers first-rate customer experience. Those are the same characteristics that I am trying to create with Artomobilia weekend along with Fuelicious. The first priority is that we want everyone to have a full white glove experience. The city of Carmel has a tremendous amount of assets and we are trying to leverage those one-by-one in order to offer great experiences in unique environments with great content. “Artomobilia all started because I really enjoy cars and it’s an passion of mine but what keeps me motivated are the stories from the car owners and their incredible tales and because the Artomobilia weekend supports a really great and local cause. The people that support Artmobilia have been really supportive of the cause and so it made sense for the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund to be our focus at Fuelicious.” Terry Ceaser-Hudson, executive director of the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund, spoke about the impact the fundraisers such as Fuelicious has on their organization and what that enables them to do for Hoosier children. Since joining the organization in 1985, Hudson has redeveloped the organization’s fundraising mechanisms and to date, the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund has granted more than 3,200 wishes to Indiana Children. “One of the first things that we did after I came into the organization was reformat how we raised funds and we began fundraising through fabulous events and long term partnerships with corporations and individuals rather than solicitations,” Hudson said. “Fuelicious has become one of my favorite fundraisers. It is a newer event but in my opinion, it is one of the finest events in the community. From the minute that you arrive at Fuelicious, you feel like you are at something very special. You feel special and you know that you are doing something incredible for Hoosier children. Every that penny that we receive goes directly to our children’s wishes. This event is growing I think that it has the potential to become one of the largest fundraisers that benefits our organization and the Indiana children that we serve.” Fuelicious assembles one of the most unique and desirable collections of automobiles and automotive enthusiasts. Sponsorships are currently available. If you have this same perspective and values, they invite you to join their efforts as a partner for the up-coming Fuelicious event in support of the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund. You can support the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund by hosting 10 individuals with a table, or entertain your clients and/or reach a broader audience with a corporate sponsorship. For more information, visit carmelartomobilia.com.