This year brought another successful Catholic Schools Raffle at St. Henry's Area School as teachers, staff and the surrounding community of Perham united with students and their families to raise an outstanding total of $5,835 for the school. The school averaged tickets sold per student, earning them an additional $3,000 in Grant money from program sponsor Catholic United Financial!
Since January 11, students of St. Henrys have been selling $5 raffle tickets as part of the Catholic Schools Raffle, a fundraising program provided free of charge by sponsor Catholic United Financial since 2009. St. Henrys is one of 89 schools in Minnesota and the Dakotas that were involved in 2019. Before that January start date, school leadership set an ambitious fundraising goal. Catholic United Financial provided all promotional materials, raffle tickets and prizes for the program at no cost. As the tickets were sold and money came in, families and staff counted their total. They were excited to know that they keep every dollar raised during the six-week ticket selling period, which ended February 24.
"Catholic United Financial has had a strong commitment to education ever since our founding 141 years ago. This year, our Catholic Schools Raffle again is one of the largest fundraisers for Catholic education in the Upper Midwest," said Harald Borrmann, president of Catholic United Financial. "Since we started this Raffle in 2009, well over $8 million has been raised for participating schools. We are incredibly proud that 100 percent of the total has gone directly to the students, parents, faculty and administrators who have helped make this program such an unqualified success."
On March 5 the Raffle officially concluded with a prize drawing ceremony broadcasted live on the Catholic United Financial website. The prizes, valued at over $40,000, included a new 2019 Chevy Trax SUV, vacation and travel packages, iPads, smart TVs and more. Catholic United also awarded the hard work of the top student classroom at St. Henrys with a pizza party and the top selling student won a new Amazon Echo Dot - Kid's Version.
Funds raised by participating schools, like St. Henry's Area School are used to enhance school programs and facilities, including funding field trips, building playgrounds, supplementing tuition costs and providing new education technology.
