I Reached The Fundraising Goal

Raffle Containers

I'm so excited. Last night, I hosted some more raffles and managed to reach the minimum fundraising goal for the American Cancer Society. A special thank you to Sean P. Maguire for hooking me up with the opportunity to host the raffles at Wissahickon Brewing Company during Quizzo. 

I had two separate prizes: a gift card pack ($10 for Amazon and $10 for Wawa) and a 50/50. Tickets were $2 each and while I didn't say "I take Venmo" I did have the QR code on my fliers. I know that often when people say "sorry I don't have cash" it's code for they don't want to look rude but don't want to donate.

Unanswered Texts to Winner

After Sean verified with the Wissahickon crew that it was alright for me to host the raffles, I walked around to the tables. I explained why I was fundraising and where the funds were going. For the 50/50, I explained that I would count how many tickets were sold and that would be the prize value. By the end of the night, the 50/50 was at $138. In total, I raised $171 for the evening.

The first name I selected for the gift cards texted back that they had already left the bar but to select another winner. The second person came up and said "I didn't even hear my name".

The 50/50 winner however was another situation all together. They hadn't responded to the first two text messages. I didn't want to leave the bar in case they wanted cash, so I decided to call the number instead of text. When I did, the number answered after one ring and had a pre-recorded spammish message. It basically sounded like those spam calls we all get for car warranties but I called them instead of them calling me. So I spoke with Sean to get a second opinion and then sent the third text message. If I do not get a response by Sunday, I will donate the additional $138 to the American Cancer Society.

Email from ACS

I truly appreciate every friend, family, and stranger that donated over the last two years while I have been training for the marathon. This has been a great lesson in why I could never be a professional fundraiser but has also helped me with more than just my running. This entire experience has helped me learn about cold-calling when I would reach out to local businesses to request donations.

Thank you again to the following businesses for donating raffle prizes during my fundraising efforts:

• Makey Makey
• Fresh Grocer on Monument Blvd
• The Couch Tomato in Manyuank

Additional thanks go out to friends that offered to help. Due to the original Covid shutdowns, I didn't follow through with all the offers but I appreciated the support. 

• Emily Forte who owns a local yoga studio and was going to host a charity class prior to shutdowns.
• Kate Kimble who is a consultant for Tastefully Simple and donated the proceeds from a party I hosted to ACS.
• Sandy Zanetto and the team at Walk This Way for putting a collection jug up on Main Street at Arts Fest. 
• Liz Pagonis from Philadelphia Runner for all her support and experienced recommendations about running fundraisers during the process.