Our First Fundraising Event!

Night at the Races Wrap-Up

November 3, 2007

Our first fundraiser went extremely well.  We were able to raise $10,000!!  I am very happy and proud of such a wonderful community we live in. 

 The event started as doors opened at 5:30pm.  We had around 20 raffle baskets and 20 silent auction items up for bidding.  Baskets included a Lady Indians Basketball basket, Christmas basket, Family Fun and Northwest Mom’s Football baskets.  Silent auction items that went well were the Jim Tressel autographed football, Cavs vs. 76ers tickets, Ohio State vs. Indiana basketball tickets, autographed Daniel “Boobie” Gibson (Cavs) hat & Sean Jones (Browns) hat.  Definitely some sports fans in the house. 

 We wanted to start the night off with a big prize.  I announced there were tickets in an envelope with a face value of $250 each.  We drew our friend Mark’s name & he was so excited until he read what the tickets were.  2 suite level tickets for a Cleveland Indians World Series game.  Aww, too bad.  It was funny though & he was a good sport.

 We sold 20 gift boxes for $20 each that contained at gift certificates worth $20-$100.  They were gone in the first ½ hour.  50/50 tickets were sold & they payout was around $350.  A buffet dinner by Santangelo’s was ready to go as the doors opened and it was very good.  Chili’s donated appetizers.  We put them out at 8:00 & they were gone immediately. 

 The races started at 7:30 and everyone had a great time betting & trying to figure out what some of the names meant.  We had some creative ones let me tell you.  J  Over $220 was donated back in our jug by the payout window.  If you put money in it, you got to ring the buzzer & the light would go off.  The Perfecta winner donated back $100 of his winnings which was awesome. 

 We drew the basket winners & all were excited to have their name drawn.  My mother-in-law wanted this Tastefully Simple basket & wouldn’t you know, I drew her name.  I actually won the Family Fun basket & have been accused of fixing the draw. 

 Silent auction bidding was tense on a few items but all closed and we had some great bids.  The auction horses were about $100 each.

 Everything was over about 10:00pm & volunteers helped with the clean up.  I can’t say enough about how great people were with helping us make this event such a success.  I’ve already had many requests for making this an annual event!!!  It was a lot of fun & I’m sure I’ll employ more help on the front end next time. 

 Thanks again to all who came, volunteered and sponsored us!!