Raffle Ends Friday

Busy, busy, busy at the raffle table on Friday.

The 90-Day Battle of the Bands will end this Friday with an absolute cacophony of sound, as members celebrate the final song of the 2003 Raffle. Hard work on the part of the BBRC has raised a great amount of funds to be allocated to worthy agencies next year at this time.

Friday, October 31, is the final day for ticket turn-in. Members should be prepared to turn in all unsold tickets, as well as filled-out ticket stubs of sold tickets at that time. In addition, paperwork must accompany your turn-in. And finally, a check made out to the “BBRC Foundation” should also accompany the paperwork.

Next Tuesday, November 4, a group of Rotarians will gather to separate the ticket stubs. Bring a staple puller-outer to Wayne McCaulley’s office, 10900 NE 8th, Suite 1101 (Cruise Holidays of Bellevue). The separated tickets will be removed to the Trane Company’s office at 2021 152nd NE in Redmond for the drawing of the winning ticket. Ticket drawing takes place at 1:30 pm on November 6, 2003. Finally, the raffle winner will be recognized at the annual Anniversary Dinner, held at the Harborside Restaurant, South Lake Union, in Seattle on Friday, November 14. There will be no regular meeting that morning.

If you will be absent this coming Friday and haven’t turned in your tickets, you must arrange to relinquish the tickets to Kevin Jewell. Contact Kevin to let him know of your intentions prior to this Friday’s meeting (ph during business hours 425-868-1922).

From Kevin come this plea: “Not trying to sound like a broken record, but remember that we also need all your unsold tickets turned in. Our poor accounting of un-sold tickets returned was one of the biggest complaints from the State Gambling Commission audit last month.”

Raffle Czar Jim Zidar gave a very impassioned talk Friday about the good that comes from our raffle efforts, with his reminiscing about the 11-year-old boy with cerebral palsy and our gift of a talking machine. “When he came to show off his machine, the pride which he exhibited as the owner of this machine that had given him new dignity, Rotary really came to mean something more to me than just a service club. Everyone at that meeting was moved. Every dollar we raise and allocate is personal. That what Rotary means to me and what it does for the community.” Jim thanked everyone for their work this year.

As of Friday, October 24, the total raffle sales were $83,678. Forty-one members have sold or exceeded $1,000 in ticket sales. Last year final raffle sales were $103K, and the previous year we hit $107K, so we still have a way to go. Your raffle ticket collection team is prepared for all of you to put us over the top this Friday.