Going once…going twice…going—to five people?!
That was the story of the big finish for the Rotary Reverse Raffle on November 1 at SugarBush Golf Club. The two thousand dollar jackpot finale went to five different ticket holders, each taking home four hundred dollars. Not bad for an evening out! It was an evening of good times, good friends, good food and fun in combining them all.
A vast collection of baskets and goods of all sorts, mostly locally-sourced, including a tree and a chain saw and a pecan pie—talk about variety!—was lined up for inspection and ticket-dropping. Virtually every business in town made contributions and many representatives of those businesses were in attendance. Sponsors included:
Gold – Middlefield Banking Company
Silver – S & K Sales & Service, Mark Brady of McCumbers Brady Realty Group, Superior Insulation
Bronze – Ryser Insurance, Sky Plaza IGA, Carlson Funeral Homes & Crematory, Garrettsville Save 4 Store, Diskin Enterprises, Inc., Huntington Bank, LTD Electric, In The Woods
Medallion – S.Kim Kohli, Sky Lanes, Ellerhorst-Russell Insurance, Charles Auto Family, Edward Jones Financial, Ohio Health Benefits
The Middlefield Bank also contributed a cadre of smiling volunteers who assisted in keeping events moving along and participators happy with their chances to win. Chuck and Connie Evans managed the ticket table. Tom Collins made like a Wal-Mart greeter at the door. John Crawford employed his outstanding wingspan in measuring out lengths of tickets for the “barrow o’ bottles” available to consumers of adult beverages. Garrettsville-Hiram Rotary president, Amy Crawford took the opportunity to thank local businessmen Pete Kepich, Roger Angel and Mike Payne for their outstanding support of the event and Rotary projects in general across the years (Pete even bought the last ticket to the event to make it a sell-out.). She also described some of the projects—both local and international ( bike racks, roadside clean-up, polio eradication, exchange students, water projects, for example)—which the Garrettsville-Hiram Rotary Club has supported. There was a District 6630 assistant governor in attendance. There were movers and shakers (No Shakers, but one fine Amish couple). Mayor Rick Patrick and his lovely wife, Linette were accompanied by Shelli and Brian Buchanan, new owners of “The Mill”; they were warmly welcomed.
Eisle Catering did themselves proud in providing the meal and Hermann’s Pickles were on all of the tables, showcasing another local business. The winner of the pie gets another bonus pie after the calories in the first one have worn off…if they ever do.
Make plans for next year’s Reverse Raffle—same time (first Wednesday in November), same place. Better yet, check out Rotary and be part of the whole thing next year.
