My First Restaurant Fundraiser

Revere Ristorante Supports the Ta-Ta's!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

The names of the people I walk for.

Me and Christine, my team leader, and one of my inspirations for walking!

Me & my husband, Al.

My blinged-out fundraising belt!

Had my very first restaurant fundraiser last night at the Revere Ristorante, in West Trenton, NJ. Although it was a good night and a lot of people turned out to support my 3-day team (The Ta-Ta Sisterhood), I was really surprised at what fundraising tricks worked and what did not.

For example, the 50/50. The pot turned out to be only about $100, I was expecting a little more. Also I sold most of the tickets at the beginning of the night, and I expected to sell most of them at the last minute.

The door prize raffle. The raffle tickets were given away with the purchase of a cosmopolitan (pink drink) of the evening! Which would have been fine, except people were drinking multiple cosmos for a better chance of winning. Put it this way, by the end of the evening, the band had a guest singer and a guest harmonica player. And I'm not sure if that particular song had a harmonica part to it.

I had two additional raffles, my husband donated handyman services and a friend of mine donated makeup application services (she is a professional make-up artist) but these did not pan out at this event. This was another surprise. There were really more men than ladies at the event though. I know. I couldn't believe it either.

The band there, Cheap Date (my husband, a guitar player's band) has a pretty good following, but I got the sense that most of the people were there to see the band. Which was fine, I don't care why the people come out just so long as they are out. Because I found that once they are out, they will donate or buy raffle tickets if they are available. I know I am one of those people. Just yesterday, when I was on my way into Shop Rite, there were a group of Brownies selling Girl Scout cookies. I bought a box--I couldn't resist, even though my older daughter is in Girl Scouts and I have those cookies coming out my ears! The box I donated to the troops though.

The last item I had available was a t-shirt I had made a few months ago, for people to sign with the names of loved ones they have lost to cancer, or cancer survivors. That worked out pretty well. Wearing the shirt or hanging it on the tent at the 3-Day really serves as a good reminder of why we're doing this.

Thanks so much to Joe, the owner of the Revere Ristorante for allowing me to have this special night at his restaurant. If you are ever in central NJ you need to go there for dinner, they have the most delicious chicken wings and vodka rigatoni I've ever had. Outside of my Nonna's, of course!

Faith, Hope and Love,

Angela