That’s a wrap! The annual Crusader Raffle ended last Friday and was an amazing success. The raffle raised over $100,000, thanks to the hard work of all of the students and faculty, as well as all of our incredible donors.

The St. Dominic community raised a record $112,000 during last week’s Crusader Raffle fundraiser. Students worked tirelessly to sell tickets to their friends, family and neighbors in hopes of earning some pretty amazing incentives. At $25 apiece, we sold over 4,480 tickets, with the top three sellers being junior Kelly Welby and freshmen Carter Feldman and Holly Kwapiszeksi.

The winners were decided in a drawing on Monday via Facebook Live. In third place, winning $1,000, were Dwayne and Janice Pickens, grandparents of junior Caden Pickens, who sold them the ticket. The second place prize of $2,500 was awarded to Nancy Derberry, who bought her ticket from junior Kinsley Dare. The first place grand prize of $7,500 was raffled off to St. Dominic counselor Mrs. Jean Nero, who bought her ticket from her son, freshman Ryan Nero.

The Crusader Raffle began in 2011, getting bigger and better every year. This year showed an 18% increase in sales from last year, a difference of more than $24,000. Part of this success can be attributed to the House System for awarding points for houses with the most ticket sales. In the end, House Gratia sold the most tickets overall.

“The house system created increased enthusiasm and a friendly competition among students,” Director of Advancement and Crusader Raffle leader Mrs. Stacie Ballard said.

Not only did the raffle do better than last year, it also greatly exceeded the original goal of $85,000. Meeting this goal meant getting the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off. Now as we exceeded over $100,000, we will also get the Monday after Thanksgiving off as well!

“This year’s Crusader Raffle was incredibly successful.  The efforts of our St. Dominic students blew me away.  Our most successful raffle ever is a great example of how generous and engaged our St. Dominic community is. What a year!” St. Dominic President Mr. Jim Welby said.

All revenue from ticket sales will help with general expenses; the higher the ticket sales, the more affordable St. Dominic can make tuition. We want to give a big thank you to everyone who helped sell tickets and a big congratulations to the winners!