10/19/2026
We didnt get video of mine and Quinns remarks and quite afew of you headed home to beat the rain so I just wanted to share the closing remarks in writing.
Classics for a Cause 4 — Closing Remarks
Thank you all for coming out today.
As things start to wind down, I want to take just a few minutes to talk about why we do this. Looking around at all these cars, trucks and motorcycles, I've come to think there's more meaning in this event than we probably understood when it started.
The simple answer to “Why an event like?” is Ben.
My son Ben was a senior at South Shore Technical High School studying automotive technology. He had just started working at Coastal Volkswagen as a co-op student and was beginning to build his skills in the trade.
Ben died by su***de on April 26, 2023, just before his senior prom and graduation.
Ben was neurodiverse. He had experienced bullying. As his mom once put it, sometimes life had too many sharp edges for Ben.
We don't know why Ben made his choice. There usually isn't one simple explanation for a loss like this, and we've tried to be careful not to create one.
What we can decide is what we do with everything that has come afterward.
After we lost Ben, his classmates wanted to do something for our family. They organized what was supposed to be a one-time fundraiser.
Our family decided we wanted that generosity to help somebody else. That one act of kindness started something.
With the help of family, friends, volunteers and this community, that fundraiser eventually became the Benjamin Dufour Foundation.
One of the first places that felt natural for us to help was the automotive program at South Shore Technical High School. Today the Foundation makes an annual contribution to the shop and the equipment students use to learn the trade.
And that brings us back to this parking lot.
Recently, a member of a local car club told me that their club wants to support young people entering the automotive field because they're concerned some of these skills are being lost.
That stuck with me.
Look at the vehicles that were here today. They're still here because somebody cared enough to keep them here.
Somebody knows how to make them run. Somebody knows how to find the part that hasn't been made in 40 years—or fabricate the one they can't find. Somebody knows what an engine is supposed to sound like, and probably knows some trick for making it work that isn't written in any manual.
There's a lot of knowledge represented in this parking lot.
So maybe part of what we're doing here is passing something along.
We're preserving these machines and some of the history and culture that grew up around them.
You can preserve a car in a museum but, preserving a culture requires people. It requires another generation that wants to learn.
Automotive education, is only one part of Ben's story and one part of what the Foundation has become.
We also support organizations working with neurodiverse people and families, bullying prevention, su***de prevention and postvention, and support for people who have lost someone to su***de.
Those aren't explanations for what happened to Ben.
They're simply places where Ben's life—and our experience since losing him—showed us that there are people we want to help.
Some of those organizations are here with us today. Hopefully you've had a chance to stop by their tables and talk with them. If you haven't, maybe take some literature with you before you leave.
Our Foundation tries to stay grounded in three words:
Kindness. Fairness. Generosity. They're qualities we saw in Ben, and they're what we try to carry forward.
And I think that's where all of this comes back around for me.
Everybody who brought a vehicle here today has spent time, energy, money—and probably more than a little frustration—keeping something they value from disappearing simply because time has passed.
I understand that.
Because in a very different way, that's what we're trying to do with Ben.
We can't stop time from passing.
We're not trying to live in the past.
We're trying to take something that mattered to us, something worth keeping, and carry it forward.
For us, that's Ben's memory.
It's the kindness his friends showed our family.
It's taking that kindness and passing it on to somebody else.
It's helping another kid learn the trade Ben was learning.
And it's helping people and families who may need support to find it.
So thank you for spending part of your day with us.
Thank you to everyone who brought a car, truck or motorcycle, and to the clubs, businesses, organizations and volunteers who helped make today possible.
Thank you for supporting the students and the organizations we care about.
And most of all, thank you for helping us carry Ben forward.
