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Steve and Ilene Sanders have lucky ticket
Steve Sanders and wife Ilene hold their check at the Kings Mountain Historical Museum a few days after winning the big prize at the reverse raffle held a few days earlier. Photo by Don Crawford
by Dave Blanton
Hundreds of donors to the Kings Mountain Historical Museum came together Saturday, Sept. 13, to dine on good food, bid on a number of valuable items in both silent and traditional auctions, and of course to find out which lucky ticket-holder was the winner of the $10,000 grand prize.
That lucky donor was Steve Sanders, who museum officials described as surprised and very happy upon hearing the news a little later that night. Sanders and his wife Ilene weren’t present for the dinner and drawing, and museum representatives said it was their first time buying a ticket for the annual reverse raffle.
“He was elated,” said David Dilling, a member of the board of directors for the museum. “In fact, he and his wife went to high school with me. So I called him personally because I wanted it to seem credible.”
By night’s end the annual raffle awarded scores of smaller door prizes to other ticket holders, who learned of their fate over a

dinner of roast beef, shrimp, chicken, croissants, fruit and other delectables.
This was also the first year the museum’s biggest fundraiser of the year sold all of the available 300 tickets, board members said. Organizers have been more and more successful with each passing year in meeting their goal of selling out. Last year they hit a new high of 286.
“The first year we had this it was in my backyard – and we had about 100 people,” said Priscilla Mauney, the museum board’s chairperson. “Of course, it’s been growing a lot over the years and until recently we held the raffle at the American Legion, which is a great venue for it.”
Mauney said she wished the winner could have been present at the exciting moment when the last ticket is pulled from the barrel and she’s looking ahead to next year when – should the winner not be present – raffle organizers could call the lucky ticket holder and perhaps put the phone to the microphone. She also said that down the road she would like to see the museum throw some other smaller fundraising functions throughout the year.
The reverse raffle is an exciting twist on a traditional raffle. An array of door prizes valued at $25 or more are awarded to at least every fifth ticket drawn from a raffle barrel. The last ticket drawn at the end of the evening wins the grand prize of $10,000. This year's finale featured prizes increasing in value up to the last ticket drawn; the last four tickets drawn prior to the grand prize winner each received a special gift and the second runner up will win a vacation package valued at over $500.
This year's cake auction featured something for everyone's sweet tooth – from a coconut lime pound cake to a seven layer chocolate cake, red velvet cake, chocolate mascarpone crunch cake and more.
Saturday’s fun wrapped up months of planning and hard work for the Kings Mountain Historical Museum board members, volunteers and its curator/director Adria Focht, who came to the museum in early 2013.
“I’m proud of our community and our volunteers,” Mauney said. “We sold every ticket we had. We had great community support. We were just very, very pleased with the turnout and the community involvement.”
At the reverse raffle Saturday, Jason Falls, the chair of the Cleveland County Board of Commissioner, served as the auctioneer, while Ellis Noell, the City’s special events coordinator acted as the emcee and Gregg Johnson served as the ticket barrel operator. Catering was provided by Linwood Catering.
Focht expressed appreciation to sponsors: Founder Level–Harris Funeral Home and IMERY's'; Patriot Level–Bank of the Ozarks, Cleveland County HealthCare System, Dilling Heating Co., Kings Mountain Animal Hospital, Dr. Jeff Mauney, Oakland Plantation Inc., Dr. and Mrs. R. Ronald Toffolo; Friend Level–Bridges True Value Hardware, Brinkley Financial Group, Dr. Jeff Carley, Carolina Cotton Co., Dicey Mills, Inc., Kerns Trucking Inc., Kings Mountain Kiwanis Club, Inc., Neisler Brothers, Inc., and Warlick and Hamrick Insurance Agency, Evelyn and Larry Hamrick and Florrie and Larry Hamrick Jr.
For more information about the museum visit www.kingsmountainmuseum.org.


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