WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER

Although I have never heard this phrase on any of my four trips to Las Vegas, it is a common story that when someone does well (which would explain why I have never heard it) an employee of the casino will shout out “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner“. Well today I get to use the phrase for something much different and far more important.

Yesterday Lori and I spent the day as volunteers at a basket auction to benefit two children who lost their parents to a tragedy just before Christmas. The auction was put together by my good friends Kelly and Tommy and their small army of volunteers (family, friends, and a Girl Scout troupe or two). Please understand that this blog post is from my point of view and I by no means intend to overshadow the amount of work done by Tommy and Kelly. What they did in putting this auction together was simply AWESOME. The share numbers that you will see below should indicated the amount of work they put into this event. I urge them to comment on this post and would be happy to post another blog written from their point of view is they wish.

Lori and I showed up at the basket auction at approx 10:30 and left around 7:30. While we were there our main focus was to run the 50/50 raffle tickets. What we saw throughout the day was a sheer testament of the human heart.

By the time Lori and I arrived (we would have been earlier but it took us about an hour to drive there) the volunteers had already set up a basket auction of 370 plus donated baskets, a side raffle of almost 30 high end donations, a 20 items silent auction, and a treasure chest valued at almost $1500. When Lori and I arrived we bought our share of tickets and distributed them in the baskets we wanted to win (of which we won exactly zero). We then took our spot and proceeded to sell 50/50 tickets. Throughout the day people would come, some would stay, some would leave but everyone would contribute. The room designed to hold 250 people was packed full from an early opening to a late finish. At one point I am sure we had enough bodies in the room to officially qualify for a world record of people to space ratio.

Lori and I along with two other totally awesome and dedicated volunteers sold over 4 rolls of 50/50 tickets. After each of the first two rolls and again after the final two rolls were sold we picked a winner. The winner would receive 50% of the money while the remaining funds went to the benefit. The winner of the first raffle split over $560, the second winner split $840, the third winner split almost $750. All in total the benefit got over almost $1100 from their share of that money but… It did not end there... the 2nd winner donated $200 of her winnings back to the benefit and the 3rd winner donated $180 of her winnings back to the benefit. All said and done the fund for the children made over $1450 from 50/50 raffle sales alone.

Meanwhile these acts of human kindness where happening throughout the room. My best friend Mark and I had donated Sabres tickets to the silent auctions. The tickets (valued at just over $100) which could have been purchased at the box office or on E-bay for approx $100, sold for almost $150. Tickets for a chance to win ½ of a Pig were selling better than the 50/50 tickets all day, more than 4000 sheets of basket auction tickets were sold, a clown and some magicians (also volunteers) showed up to entertain the children, a polish dancing group performed for the crowd and two high school boys brought their equipment to provided DJ services for the day.

Lori and I got to watch the town of Alden (and all of their friends, family and neighbors) pull together to help provide for two if it’s children.

Around 4:00 they started selecting winners of each basket… 3 hours later they had finished the baskets, the large raffle item winners had been selected, the silent auction was closed and winners notified, the winning treasure chest key had been selected and the chest opened and the final action of selecting door prize winners had begun. It had been a long day, we had not eaten much to this point, and we still had approx an hour drive home so we said our goodbyes to our friends and headed out the door for dinner and a ride home. On our ride home we discussed our day (something we are getting better at as we attend our marriage counseling sessions in preparation for our wedding). We talked about the new friends we made. We talked about how we left with no baskets, no door prizes, and almost empty wallets . Most importantly we discussed how we also felt like two of the biggest winners in the building as you see we both LOVE to help others and find great pride in doing so.

BUT…

Although both Lori and I feel like winners that is not where the title of this blog comes from... the title is much more important than us…. You see on Monday I got a message from Kelly telling me the auction raised over $27,000 for the children and the grand total raised between this event and the snowmobile run that I have previously blogged about is over $32,000. This money is to be placed in a trust fund for these children. The money will be used to provide for the children as they grow and help insure that they get an opportunity to go to college if they desire and they can as close to a normal childhood as possible. Due to the GREAT job by Kelly, Tommy and all the volunteers this event was a total SUCCESS.

So again I say…

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER.