By Emmaline Jurgena
The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — The Sacred Heart Cathedral Knights of Columbus Council recently announced a new raffle fundraiser that will benefit the building of a new parish center.
“[The raffle] is a great opportunity for our parish, for our vision of the future, and for the building fund,” said Father Rich Adam, pastor of Sacred Heart Cathedral.
The men are selling raffle tickets with the proceeds going to the Sacred Heart building fund. Although the Knights originally pledged $15,000, they increased their planned contribution after an unexpectedly successful first year. They have also raised money by hosting pancake breakfasts and “Grill and Chill” cookouts.
First prize in the raffle is a 2008 Nissan Sentra. The car was donated to the parish by parishioner and Knight Jim Carter and has been completely detailed. Carter believes that raffling a used car rather than a new car can be an advantage for fundraising.
“Some of the other churches have tried to raffle off new cars … and the cost or the quantity of the tickets they have to sell is so great that they fail,” Carter explained.
Second prize in the raffle is a Tornado Storm II foosball table. Raffle tickets are being sold for $50 each and the Knights hope to sell 600 tickets to raise a total of $30,000. They had successfully sold 75 tickets as of June 19, and hope to sell more by visiting other Knights of Columbus councils, and by continuing to publicize the raffle.
Tickets will be sold until Aug. 10. Names of prize winners will be drawn at the Sacred Heart ice cream social.