Knights of Columbus Charity Raffle Raises $22,000 Total Raised by Annual Event Reaches $150,000

St. Mary’s of Holliston Knights of Columbus Council 14224 Ninth Annual Charity Raffle Tom Anguish raised $22,000 this year, pushing the total raised over the lifetime of the raffle to $150,000.
“We sold almost 6,000 tickets and everyone who bought one (or more) became winners because they helped so many people,” says raffle committee chairman Aaron Pyman.
The majority of the funds have been spread over several organizations, including the Holliston Pantry Shelf and the food pantries in several other local towns. In addition, the council continues to support the Holliston Senior Center, Homes for Our Troops (building homes for disabled veterans), Habitat for Humanity, IPods for Veterans, a donation to a fund at St. Mary’s Church to help people unable to pay their bills, and other charitable donations. This year’s donations to the Pantry Shelf and Senior Center will be distributed during Celebrate Holliston, and the donations for veterans will be made on Veteran’s Day.
“We just wish we could raise $22,000 (or more) for each of these charities,” says member Tom Anguish.
The actual prize winners for this year’s drawing were:
• Grand Prize ($1,000) – Ben Irr
• Second Prize ($500) –
Judy Scaramella
• Third Prize ($250) –
Betsy Bixler
• Fourth Prize (150) –
Homes for Our Troops
• Fifth Prize ($100) – Susan Donovan
Grand Knight Al Scaramella pointed out that conducting the raffle is very labor intensive, with knights putting in over 1,000 hours of their time to make this such a success. Members of this local group have given over 25,000 total hours of their time to helping the community.
“We’ve increased our totals every year, and this has allowed us to continue to support these organizations as much as possible. The first principle of the Knights of Columbus is Charity, and we’re committed to putting this into practice,” he continued.
The knights thank everyone who purchased tickets and the stores which supported their efforts by allowing them to sell tickets in front of their establishments. Mr. Scaramella added that this success is only possible because of the generosity of those who buy the tickets.
“They realize these charities really need everyone’s support” he added.