Reverse Raffle Is A Success!
Posted
on Mar 31, 2015
Well last night was Niles Rotary’s 20th Annual Reverse Raffle and Auction and what a wonderful and successful event it was! President Elect Lisa and the fabulous RR & A committee outdid themselves this year by again surpassing the totals of monies raised for our Gifting Program and raising the bar for President ElectElect Angus’ year.
This year’s event was again held at the Sunol Country Club where we have always been treated as a member of the family. My thanks go out to Randie, Manuel and Perry for helping us to reach our goal of providing a good time to our Rotarians and guests as well as raising funds to do the good the things in the community that Niles Rotarians do.
Once again Rose Evernden-Andrade and Past President Jack Rogers handled the logistics for the event; I think that they have this down to a science now, and the event flowed very smoothly. Next year with the help of newly anointed Rotarians Mitty Chang and Yvonne Kwan and the Rotaractors of Greater Fremont, the seating, check-in, check-out and method of payment procedures are going to even be better. Look for improvements next year as Mitty is working on developing his own computer program for events such as ours and similar events.
Our Fund-a-Need for this year was a project that was very dear to the hearts of all of us Niles Rotarians. The Jack of Hearts Fund will benefit families who have to cope with the problems of pediatric cancer, and have to often times miss work or find lodging, meals etc. wherever they are required to travel to find the appropriate treatment for their child. This program of helping families was brought to our club by Past President Jack Rogers whose grandson, Baby Jack Rogers, is now being treated for cancer. Past President Jack recognized that his family was actually one of of the lucky ones and that they had the support system required. He also recognized that many families do not have such a support system. So he and his family, along with the help of the Benioff Children’s Hospital Foundation, have started the “Jack of Hearts Fund.” Niles Rotarians and their guests chipped in to the tune of over $21,000.00 to help get this worthy program underway.
Of course the Raffle portion of our program was again led by Past President Rich Brunelli along with Past President Jim Brunelli and was a huge success. Rich has been running the raffle now 20 years for Niles Rotary and many years prior for the Fremont/Newark YMCA. Thank you Rich and Jim for doing a bang up job.
The Auction, both Live and Silent, was chaired by a new team this year. Audrey Kearns headed up the Live Auction portion of our program and did a wonderful job of bringing some new items to the event. Chris and Bev Louie took on the duties of the Silent Auction this year. The team took ownership of the Live and Silent Auctions, and I think we had the best auction returns ever. Of course the Auction would just not be as successful without the best benefit auctioneer in the business helping us every year. Thank you Mark Alman and Alman Benefit Auctions for working so hard to make our event the success it is. It is a very tough room to work and you do a great job! Our event program is developed and designed by graphic artist Stephen Allen and always looks great, providing a good record of the event, auction items, advertisers, etc.a
In my humble opinion and as I have stated before, Niles Rotary has the best and most fun major fundraiser of the year -- and I attend many so I ought to know. The fun part comes in by being in the same room with all of the Niles Rotarians and their guests. We are a very generous group and a lot of fun to hang out with.
I wish to thank you all for your hard work, generosity, and commitment to making our annual event the success it has been for 20 years and counting. When I look back at my year as President, I remember how much fun we had, how dedicated you all are, and how much fun we had last night.
President Steve