THE ROTARY CLUB OF
LAKEWOOD ROCKY RIVER SUNRISE
JEWELRY RAFFLE FUND RAISER
EXCEEDS GOAL
EXCEEDS GOAL
The Rotary Club of Lakewood Rocky River Sunrise faced the same issue as many other Clubs trying to raise funds for its planned service projects for 2021. The annual fund raiser was cancelled in 2020, and not even planned for 2021.
A local jeweler donated an attractive 14 Karat gold two tone bracelet with 14 diamonds totaling 2.42 carats for a fund-raising raffle. Having a raffle would be a challenge since the Club was meeting on Zoom, and selling tickets would be difficult with Covid restrictions. Current Club President, Eric Jolly, challenged the members to use Email, Text, Face Book and all other possible ways to “sell” tickets! A special flyer was prepared listing the many agencies and organizations that would receive support from a successful raffle. Virtual tickets were only $10 per ticket; $50 for 6 tickets; $100 for 13 tickets; and 
$200 for 28 tickets. For each ticket purchased the donor received one chance to win. The Club made donating to Raffle easy by giving people two choices, going to a special website and paying by credit card using its safe and secure online processing system or paying by check to the Rotary Club of Lakewood Rocky River Sunrise Foundation.
$200 for 28 tickets. For each ticket purchased the donor received one chance to win. The Club made donating to Raffle easy by giving people two choices, going to a special website and paying by credit card using its safe and secure online processing system or paying by check to the Rotary Club of Lakewood Rocky River Sunrise Foundation. The Goal was $6,000 and $6,715 was raised representing 91 different participants! The winner was the wife of a former member who has maintained contact the Club and helps with Club projects!
Two local community organizations that will benefit from the Fundraising Raffle are the Rocky River Assistance Program of family food distribution of non-perishable food to over 300 families in Rocky River and the Lakewood Charitable Assistance Corporation program which delivers food to 300 needy families in Lakewood at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Recently, the Sunrise Club added the Trials for Hope program to the list of organizations it helps. This program provides food for the homeless and needy on the near west side of Cleveland.
News releases were prepared featuring some of these organizations and how support of the raffle will enable the Club to continue its support in 2021. The other clubs in the Cluster were contacted. The members really pitched in and made contacts with their friends and business associates. The Club decided to have the raffle as a virtual social, which featured a presentation by Rebecca Silber, Rotary International Foundation Zone Annual Giving Chair, who gave brief talk on the activities of Rotary International. Everyone who participated in the Raffle was invited to attend the virtual social. The drawing was done using a special online program that listed all the names of participants, including the number of tickets they purchased, and randomly selected a winner.