Lift Ticket Raffle for Breast Cancer

[JasonE]

Hello all,

My wife and I run a breast cancer fundraising group which is operating "Ski for a Cure", an online raffle of lift tickets and other ski-related stuff to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a breast cancer research and advocacy organization.

Here's a great opportunity to get some lift tickets and, at the same time, help support the search for a cure for breast cancer. The fundraiser is run like a traditional raffle - you buy raffle tickets for each item you are hoping to win, and we draw the winner in mid-to-late January.

We're still getting lift tickets in the mail, so I'll be updating this thread as I add more lift tickets to the raffle, but in the meantime, here are the raffle items already available:

4 Ride and Ski New England Discount Cards (Includes 2 Lift Tickets to Black Mountain) with a value of $198.00
4 $10 Vouchers for Gunstock Mountain, NH with a value of $40.00
4 Full Day Lift Tickets to Bolton Valley, VT with a value of $220.00
2 Full Day Lift Tickets to Saddleback, ME with a value of $80.00
3 T-Shirts: "When Hell Freezes Over, I'll Ski There, Too" with a total value of $60.00
2 Lift Tickets to Berkshire East, MA with a value of $100.00
2 Lift Tickets to Mt. Abram, ME with a value of $86.00
2 Lift Tickets to Wachusett Mountain, MA with a value of $98.00
1 $20 off Lift Ticket Voucher for Bolton Valley, VT with a value of $20.00
2 Lift Tickets to Sunday River, Maine with a value of $144.00
1 Lift Ticket to Bromley Mountain, VT with a value of $63.00

Please visit Ski for a Cure to buy your raffle tickets or make a donation or go to our general web site at www.kittiesforacure.com for more information about our organization. We're hoping to have great success with this fundraiser, since we'd love to repeat it next year. We're doing this so that we can walk in the Breast Cancer 3 Day, a 3-day, 60-mile walk to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. My wife and I will both be walking this year (the walk is in August, which means that, maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll be recovered enough to start skiing again by next winter

Lift tickets are still rolling in (the Wachusett ones just came yesterday!) so I'll post more as I get them. The first drawing is January 15, and all drawings will be complete before February 1st (we want all the winners to have plenty of time to use their lift tickets!)

Please feel free to drop me a private message or e-mail if you have any questions or problems.

Thanks,

Jason

P.S. - I posted this with Greg's permission, just to ensure I wasn't running foul of forum policies. He said it was ok with him.

 

[JasonE]

Hi Everyone,

Based on the number of times this thread has been viewed, and the number of visits to the Ski for a Cure page, I have to assume some people have been interested, but at this point I've only had one person actually buy any raffle tickets.

I'm wondering if some people are trying to buy them but haven't actually gone through the complete check-out process. Please make sure you click on the "Add to Cart" link for any tickets you'd like to buy. That will bring you to your cart. Adjust the quantity for that item if you want to buy multiple tickets for the same raffle. Once you've got that item set the way you want it, close the shopping cart window to return to the Ski for a Cure page. Click Add to Cart for the next item you'd like to buy tickets for. Etc. When you are done, click the "View Cart" button at the top or bottom of the list. This will take you back to your cart where you can review all of your raffle tickets. From your cart, click on "Proceed to Checkout" and follow the instructions from there. If you already have a PayPal account, you can log into it. If you do not have a PayPal account, there's a smaller link on the bottom left that says "Don't have a PayPal account? Use your Credit Card or bank account (where available), Continue." Click on that continue link to continue (you don't need to sign up for PayPal to buy your raffle tickets).

I'm hoping these little instructions will help some of you, because it really looks like there is interest from this forum but only one person has actually bought raffle tickets so for (Hi Tom!), and I wanted to make sure there weren't a bunch of you here thinking you were entered who actually weren't.

Any questions of problems, please don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks,

Jason

 

[tcharron]

Somehow, I feel my chances of winning just went down!

 

[billski]

Due diligence

Any questions of problems, please don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks,

Jason

Jason,

You need to help establish some credibility. I read the FAQ. These questions remain.

1. What percentage of each raffle dollar goes to the charities? I am looking for a specific number.

2. What are the odds of winning? I cannot tell how large or widespread an event this is or have any idea how slim my chance of winning are. If the odds are really great, why should I not just donate directly to the charity.

3. I don't know you. How do I know there will be actual winners? Will you post the results? The "winners" page is a dead end. Not too comforting. Do you have a demonstrable track record of disbursing such goods?

4. How do I find out how much you actually have donated? Do you have some sort of audit report?

I don't mind giving money to charity, but unless there is some transparency here, it is hard to take this venture seriously. Sorry, I am certain you are sincere, but there are far too many scammers on the internet.

Thank you.

 

[tcharron]

Jason,

You need to help establish some credibility. I read the FAQ. These questions remain.

1. What percentage of each raffle dollar goes to the charities? I am looking for a specific number.

2. What are the odds of winning? I cannot tell how large or widespread an event this is or have any idea how slim my chance of winning are. If the odds are really great, why should I not just donate directly to the charity.

3. I don't know you. How do I know there will be actual winners? Will you post the results? The "winners" page is a dead end. Not too comforting. Do you have a demonstrable track record of disbursing such goods?

4. How do I find out how much you actually have donated? Do you have some sort of audit report?

I don't mind giving money to charity, but unless there is some transparency here, it is hard to take this venture seriously. Sorry, I am certain you are sincere, but there are far too many scammers on the internet.

Thank you.

Based on his feedback to the forums itself, it defiantly lends credibility to what he is working twards. His name matches the PayPal account at least. As far as the winners, we shall see, but you are correct in there is no apparent history.

But personally, I don't mind tossing it 5-10 bucks for a few raffle tickets. The potential for loss is low, really. I mean heck, it's a dollar a ticket. The prizes are provided by other entities, so I suppose if there was a true concern you could always contact the contributing companies to verify that they have these to raffle.

Granted, none of this goes directly to your concerns on where the money is going. This is an unfortunate side affect of living in todays society. But personally, I'll give em a break for a couple of bucks. His Paypal info matches, if that helps.

 

[billski]

Based on his feedback to the forums itself, it defiantly lends credibility to what he is working twards. His name matches the PayPal account at least. As far as the winners, we shall see, but you are correct in there is no apparent history.

But personally, I don't mind tossing it 5-10 bucks for a few raffle tickets. The potential for loss is low, really. I mean heck, it's a dollar a ticket. The prizes are provided by other entities, so I suppose if there was a true concern you could always contact the contributing companies to verify that they have these to raffle.

Granted, none of this goes directly to your concerns on where the money is going. This is an unfortunate side affect of living in todays society. But personally, I'll give em a break for a couple of bucks. His Paypal info matches, if that helps.

I would offer that a majority of people may be lookers at his site due to the aforementioned concerns. I do not think I am alone here. We unfortunately have seen many noble causes used to scam people. The internet has taken scamming to a new level. While Jason is unlikely to be a scammer, groups like his are being forced to verify their claims, especially since we cannot meet him fact to face. Sorry.

 

[JasonE]

Hi Bill,

I'm glad you decided to voice your concerns here - it gives me the chance to answer them and hopefully put your mind at ease (and maybe other people had the same concern). First, let me just tell you a little bit more about what's going on. Last year, my wife Carrie walked in the Breast Cancer 3 Day, a 3-day, 60-mile walk from Framingham to Boston to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. She walked as part of the Cup Crusaders, a local walking team made up of close to 20 women who all share the goal of finding a cure for breast cancer. After the walk, Carrie and her teammates managed to convince me to walk in the 2008 event, and as you will see I am committed to doing that (though it does scare me since it's going to take an enormous amount of training for me to be in good enough shape to walk for 60 miles).

The main problem with both Carrie and I walking, it turns out, isn't the the actual working, or even the training for the walk. The main problem is the fundraising. Last year, it took both of us working very hard for months to raise the required minimum (3 Day walkers must raise $2,200 - Carrie raised $2,616). With both of us walking, we now have to raise $4,400. We've set our goal for $5,000.

We decided that the most effective means for us to fundraise would be to put a "name and face" to our fundraising efforts. Thus, Kitties for a Cure was born. The main reason for creating Kitties for a Cure was to allow us to do cash fundraisers (like this one, and others) and be able to keep the funds completely separate and transparent from our own personal money. By creating a fundraising organization, we are able to set up a separate bank account, keep separate financial records, etc. It allows us to track fundraising expenses, so we don't end up spending personal money on fundraising like we did last year, and allows us to submit donations to the 3 Day from the Kitties for a Cure checking account, which shows up on our 3 Day web sites as coming from Kitties for a Cure (this was important for us - we did not want people to mistakenly think that all of those donations came from us personally when in fact they came from other people and we were simply sending the money). Having the organization allows us to put credit where credit is due.

I've answered your concerns point-by-point below:

1. What percentage of each raffle dollar goes to the charities? I am looking for a specific number.

I do not have a percentage amount (it depends on how much we collect). We take our expenses out from the amount raised. This is the first of several major fundraisers we are doing this year. Since you've asked for transparency, to date as an organization we have spent $193.00 which we expect to reimburse ourselves for. This includes the cost of printing business cards, postcards, letters, and postage. Everything raised above the $193.00 will be donated.

Also please note - if you go to our Donate page on our web site, you can link through to our actual donation pages on the Breast Cancer 3 Day web site. You won't see any donations there, yet, because Ski for a Cure is our first fundraiser, but once the Ski for a Cure fundraiser is completed you'll see the amount we donated from the fundraiser listed on that page as well.

2. What are the odds of winning? I cannot tell how large or widespread an event this is or have any idea how slim my chance of winning are.

As with anything, the odds depend on how many tickets are sold. I've posted this raffle on AlpineZone.com and SnowJournal.com (the two forums I am a part of). I have heard from one other person who has posted it on her skiing-related forums. I have distributed a few flyers locally and have asked other members of our walking team (the Cup Crusaders) to help spread the word.

If the odds are really great, why should I not just donate directly to the charity.

I would certainly encourage you to do so - I just thought this would be a great way for people to make donations while getting something back at the same time. If you do want to donate directly, I would very much appreciate it if you did it through Carrie or my 3 Day web site (http://08.the3day.org/goto/carriegrahamellis or http://08.the3day.org/goto/jasonellis) so that we at least get credit for the donations towards our fundraising goals. Between the two of us, we have to raise $4,400.00 to walk (and our goal is $5,000.00), so any donations using our donation links would be appreciated.

3. I don't know you. How do I know there will be actual winners? Will you post the results? The "winners" page is a dead end. Not too comforting. Do you have a demonstrable track record of disbursing such goods?

I am sorry that the winner's page is a dead link. I did not even realize that. Since there've been no winners yet (the raffle just started), I hadn't had anything to put on a winners page. I will definitely fix the dead link, however, as soon as I am done writing this post.

Yes, the results will be posted on the winners page. They will also be posted here. As far as a track record, this is the first time we have done a fundraiser of this type ourselves. Last year our walking team, the Cup Crusaders, did a couple of these types of fundraisers (though they were local fundraisers so they sold the tickets in person not over the internet) which we did participate in. Also, I sat on the Advisory Board for the local Salvation Army (Montachusett Corps in Fitchburg, MA) for many years, and we did a number of fundraisers of this type including an annual radio auction, all of which I have been involved with.

Our original plan with this fundraiser was to hold an actual physical event, but we decided to do it online so that more people would be able to get a chance to win the lift tickets (and, who knew we'd have one of the best early seasons ever - I didn't want to try to interrupt anyone's ski season by expecting you to come off the slope and go to a party to win some of these tickets).

As far as whether we will actually draw or not - you will just need to trust us. As with anything, it is the reality of the world we live in that there are dishonest people out there. I assure you, Carrie and I are not among them. I have all of the lift ticket vouchers sitting in an envelope in the drawer in my kitchen (but please don't break into my house to get them, they're for charity!). Do I drool over them every time I go into that drawer? Sure I do. I'm a skier. I'd love to have free tickets to all those mountains. But I also know that I have $4,400 to raise between now and the end of July and it's just not going to happen if no one is willing to donate any money, and no one ever donates money to a dishonest fundraiser.

And, to set your mind at ease, if you look back through my posts here and/or on SnowJournal, I back in November I posted a list of all the great freebies I got at the Boston Ski Show, so you'll see that I have my own little envelope of free lift tickets we got from that show - plus I do have a pass to Wachusett, and my father just gave us two BOGO vouchers to Crotched as our Christmas present, so it's not like I'm starved for skiing or anything.

4. How do I find out how much you actually have donated? Do you have some sort of audit report?

Kitties for a Cure as an organization is new. Last year Carrie and I just did the fundraising ourselves. The reason for establishing Kitties for a Cure was for the single purpose of opening a separate bank account so that we could actually keep the funds separate - in other words, to increase our accountability and allow us to do fundraisers of this type where we were accepting cash versus handling everything via check. It's terrifying to do cash fundraisers without having any way of accounting for that cash, and so setting up Kitties for a Cure, which gives us that separate bank account and ability to account for the cash we accept, was the best way we had to ensure that everything stayed on the up-and-up. We are registered with the IRS (Tax ID #26-1197721) as a "Community-Based Organization" with the stated principle purpose of fundraising. What this means is that we are not in and of ourselves a non-profit entity, but rather that we actively fundraise on behalf of and pass along money to a non-profit entity. We are not a business, we do not have paid employees or paid directors or anything like that. We set up the organization so that we would be able to maintain our transparency and keep the funds separate from our personal funds.

We did participate in the Breast Cancer 3 Day last year (that is to say, Carrie walked in it, and I helped out her and the team in any way I could. This year I am walking also, which scares the daylights out of me I'll be honest to say.) It's outdated, but if you want to you can see Carrie's fundraising web site from last year at http://www.graham-ellis.com/

You can also see complete team statistics (including Carrie's fundraising amount) from the 2007 walk in August at Cup Crusaders Team Page. I don't know how long the 3 Day will leave that page up (they already removed Carrie's personal page from the 2007 walk) but as of right now it is there. Carrie herself raised $2,616.00 last year, and the Cup Crusaders as a whole raised $51,621.50.

If you have any other questions, I would be more than happy to answer them. I hope I've been able to calm some of your fears.

Thank you, and Merry Christmas,

Jason Ellis

 

[JasonE]

While Jason is unlikely to be a scammer, groups like his are being forced to verify their claims, especially since we cannot meet him fact to face.

Actually, anyone who would like to meet me face-to-face is more than welcome to. Just drop me a p.m. and we can arrange to meet up at Wachusett or Crotched and ski for a bit (keep in mind I keep to green and blue trails). Or stop by and see me at work any time I'm there - I work at the Ashburnham Market Place in Ashburnham, Massachusetts - you can usually find me behind the deli counter or in the dairy aisle. If you drop me a p.m. I am happy to let you know my work schedule.

As I said, Kitties for a Cure was set up to help maintain transparency and accountability, not hide it, and for the simple fact that I'd love to meet anyone from AlpineZone anyway.

 

[JasonE]

Bill,

I've fixed the dead link to the winners page, thank you for letting me know that was broken.

Thanks,

Jason

 

[billski]

Thank you Jason, I appreciate your candor and honesty. It will help not only me, but others who may be on the fence. I will be interested in seeing if this dialog changes you donate-ometer now.

With regard to face to face. When you get to be my advanced age (my daughter long ago wanted to know if I knew Abraham Lincoln), you become pummeled with solicitations by the hundreds per year. The sad fact is that charities of all sorts have to actively compete for a limited donation pool. Couple that with a hyper-active life filled back-to-back with commitments, it becomes a near-impossibility that I would have the three or four hours necessary to travel to meet you, though I do appreciate the offer.

Good luck on your endeavor and Merry Christmas.

 

[chfriend]

I know I'm new here, but I can vouch for Jason.

 

[tcharron]

Bump

 

[JasonE]

For anyone who has had difficulty entering because our system runs through PayPal, we are now also accepting raffle entries sent in via postal mail. Download the mail-in order form now to send in your raffle entries by postal mail. Thank you!

 

[JasonE]

The first round of raffles are ending tomorrow. Let's call this a 24-hour notice on the following raffle items:

2 Ride and Ski New England Discount Cards (including 2 lift tickets to Black Mountain, NH) valued at $99.00

4 $10 vouchers to Gunstock valued at $40

2 Full Day Lift Tickets to Bolton Valley, VT valued at $110

2 Full Day Lift Tickets to Saddleback, ME valued at $80

1 T-shirt reading "If Hell Freezes Over, I'll Ski There, Too" valued at $20

Raffle tickets are just $1.00 each and you can buy as many raffle tickets per item as you'd like. Visit www.kittiesforacure.com/ski.htm to purchase your raffle tickets.

While you're there, don't forget there are two more drawing dates - January 20 and January 25 with more great lift tickets available that you can also buy raffle tickets for.

I'll be posting the winners of the drawing on our web site and also in this thread, so check back tomorrow.

Thanks,

Jason

 

[tcharron]

Wow, did you get more stuff? List looks longer then it was.

 

[JasonE]

First Round Winners!

Hi everyone,

First round of drawings is done, and we have 5 winners!!!! Congratulations to those who won. Don't forget, we have two more rounds to go (January 20 and January 25), so if you didn't win any of today's raffles you've still got a chance to win by going to www.kittiesforacure.com/ski.htm and entering for one of the later raffles.

Anyway, I know you're all waiting patiently, so here are the winners:

On the pair of Ride & Ski New England cards (including tickets to Black Mountain): Winner Caitlin McLaughlin of Portland, Maine

On the pair of Bolton Valley Lift Tickets: Winner Woody Bousquet of Winchester, Virginia

On the 4 $10 vouchers to Gunstock Mountain: Winner Tom Durgin of Wells River, Vermont

On the pair of Saddleback Lift Tickets: Winner Chris Simms of Leominster, Massachusetts

On the "When Hell Freezes Over, I'll Ski There, Too." T-shirt, Winner Kathryn Ganong of Brewster, New York

Congratulations to all our first round winners. As soon as I'm done writing this post, I'm going to post these winners on our web site and over on SnowJournal, and then I'm going to put these in envelopes - they'll be in the mail tomorrow morning!

Thanks for everyone who has entered so far!

Jason

 

[JasonE]

ust a note to say the second round of raffle drawings takes place tomorrow, so consider this your final notice to get in on the following great items:

2 Lift Tickets to Berkshire East
2 Lift Tickets to Mt. Abram
2 Lift Tickets to Wachusett
1 $20 off ticket voucher for Bolton Valley
1 T-shirt reading "When Hell freezes over, I'll ski there, too."

Hey - you know what? Those of you who have a hankering to ski in Maine, the Mt. Abram raffle might be a great choice. So far I have only ONE entry to the Mt. Abram raffle (that's right, only ONE person bought a raffle ticket for Mt. Abram), so your odds of winning are pretty darned good on that one!

Anyway, visit www.kittiesforacure.com/ski.htm to purchase raffle tickets. The drawing will take place tomorrow (after we get back from Pat's Peak) and I'll post the winners here and on our web site!

Don't forget, this is also a fine time to buy raffle tickets for the 3rd and final round of our drawing, which will happen on Friday, and includes tickets to Sunday River, Bromley, and Bolton Valley, as well as two RSNE discount cards.

The net proceeds from this raffle go to the Breast Cancer 3 Day supporting Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Thanks,

Jason

 

[JasonE]

OK everyone, the results for today's drawing are in! Here are the winners:

Mt. Abram lift tickets: winner Dave Adoretti, Sterling, MA
Bolton Valley $20 voucher: winner Ron Chevarie, Westminster, MA
Wachusett lift tickets: winner Marianne Dinkel, Groton, MA
Birkshire East lift tickets: winner Bradley Anderson
"When Hell Freezes Over, I'll Ski There, Too" T-shirt: winner, Laurie Puliafico, Barre, MA

Don't forget to enter our last drawing, to be drawn on Friday, with the following great tickets left:

2 Lift Tickets to Sunday River, Maine, valued at $144
2 Ride & Ski New England Discount Cards (including lift tickets to Black Mtn., NH), valued at $98
1 Lift Ticket to Bromley, VT, valued at $63
2 Lift Tickets to Bolton Valley, VT, valued at $110
1 "When Hell Freezes Over, I'll Ski There, Too" T-shirt, valued at $20

To enter, visit www.kittiesforacure.com/ski.htm

Thanks to everyone who has entered so far!

Jason

 

[JasonE]

Final Winners!

OK everyone, final five raffle items were just drawn and we have more winners from AlpineZone!

Here are the winners of the final round:

Bromley Lift Ticket: Tom Durgin, Wells River, VT
T-Shirt: E. Erban, Bolton, MA
Sunday River Lift Tickets: Geoffrey Osmun, Medford, MA
RSNE Discount Cards: Thomas Charron, Lyndenborough, NH
Bolton Valley Lift Tickets: Woodward Bousquet, Winchester, VA

Thank you to everyone who participated.

Take care,

Jason

 

[tcharron]

OK everyone, final five raffle items were just drawn and we have more winners from AlpineZone!

Here are the winners of the final round:

Bromley Lift Ticket: Tom Durgin, Wells River, VT
T-Shirt: E. Erban, Bolton, MA
Sunday River Lift Tickets: Geoffrey Osmun, Medford, MA
RSNE Discount Cards: Thomas Charron, Lyndenborough, NH
Bolton Valley Lift Tickets: Woodward Bousquet, Winchester, VA

Thank you to everyone who participated.

Take care,

Jason

Wewt! So after the fact, how well did the fund raiser go?