Dexter Woman Wins North Woods Conservancy Raffle

It’s not a truck, but still a nice prize for one lucky winner in the Keweenaw Truck Raffle.

The North Woods Conservancy held their drawing on Monday at the Ahmeek Streetcar Station, where for months the non-profit organization displayed a new truck being donated by Keweenaw Chevrolet.

The entire package was valued at about $78,000.

Unfortunately, not enough of the 1,000 tickets were sold at $145 each to make it possible to give away the truck, so the raffle reverted to a 50/50.

The winning ticket was number 320, so Kathy Theisen of Dexter is the recipient of the cash prize of more than $43,000.

The rest of the proceeds from the raffle will go toward the group’s conservation efforts in the Keweenaw.

Here is the full press release from the North Woods Conservancy:

Hey Everybody,

We had the drawing! The winning ticket was… #320, sold to Kathy Theisen of Dexter, MI. Congratulations Cathy! The cash prize was $43,065!

At 1 pm, I made the following remarks, containing lots of well-deserved Thank You’s and Other Important Info. The bottom line is, even though we weren’t able to give away the truck, the KTR was a SUCCESS. Thank you all for buying tickets and helping with the Raffle!

Sincerely,

John Griffith
NWC Volunteer Prez

PS — We filmed the presentation, and hope to have it up on the NWC YouTube channel within a day. Will provide the link on the NWC website and probably in a later email too. But here are the prepared remarks, and a description — at the end — of the drawing). It was exciting : )

REMARKS ON Keweenaw Truck Raffle (KTR) DRAWING

Ahmeek Streetcar Station, Ahmeek Michigan

September 3, 2018 1 pm

I’m John Griffith, co-founder of the NWC and current volunteer President.

Thanks for coming today to witness this exciting moment.

The NWC is an all-volunteer 501c3 non-profit, duly registered with the State of Michigan and the United States Government.

The NWC exists to acquire Natural Areas for Wildlife and People. For those of you who were lucky enough to grow up here, and for those who have been here for 25 or more years, you remember the way it used to be:

[tell the story of LSLC/ how most land was open/thought of as public, but was private]

The KTR benefits the NWC Natural Areas. This year I designed and produced these XL post cards showing the NWC Natural Areas, with directions and information on the back. My thanks to an anonymous donor who paid to have them printed. Our first Natural Area was Dore Woods…

[go thru each Natural Area: DW, SMP, GRNP GRN, MP, CF]

THANKS to everyone who bought a KTR ticket, and to those who added a $35 SMP donation and those who added 3% or 5% to cover the CC costs.

– and to everyone who made a lump-sum donation to the NWC, in 2018 and the past

– and to our $10/ $20/ $100 a month monthly sustainers, in 2018 and in the past

The NWC would not exist without you.

The NWC Board envisioned a Raffle as the means by which, in 2018 and hopefully in future years, the way the NWC can meet our financial obligations in a fun and successful way.

Here’s the stark reality: because of the debt taken on by the NWC for the Gratiot River Projects and SMP, we have to raise a significant amount of money every year, just to pay the mortgages.
There’s a long story about how we ended up with big debt, but here’s the short version: the State delayed and reneged on some already-awarded grants, leaving us with the debt. We *could* have sold the properties, but as a Board and as a Membership, we made the decision to go thru with the acquisitions and take on the debt. So here we are.

Up until this year, the NWC has raised all our funds by direct donations. And until we figure out this Raffle thing, that is going to remain true: the NWC will exist because of our monthly sustainers and lump-sum donors.

If we had 500 people give $10/month, all of our raffle proceeds could be used to pay down big chunks of debt and build up a nest egg so we can jump on future projects. Please take a green sheet [the NWC Donor Form].
Anyway, we thought a Raffle would be a fun and successful way to do raise the money, and also to Raise Awareness about the NWC, and to Expand our Audience, not only to people who may not care about the NWC’s Conservation Mission and just want to get in on a good Raffle, but also to geographic areas outside the Keweenaw.

Running a Raffle was a learning experience: you have to get a Charitable Gaming License from the State of Michigan, and follow all the rules – the worst of which is that we could not sell tickets on line. If we could have done online sales, I think my expectation that all 1,000 tickets would be sold by the end of July might have come to fruition.

[explain the Truck Raffle using the KTR XL PC, go thru the rules on the back]

Thank you to everyone who helped organize the KTR. The Raffle was pretty much my idea. I advocated for selling only 1,000 tickets, which kept the odds really good but kept the price high at $145 (instead of selling, say, 2,000 tickets at $75). That was a mistake.

Jane and I did the paperwork to get the Raffle License. I contacted Brandon Schlief at Keweenaw Chevrolet, and by the way Brandon has been incredible to work with – he let us display the truck all summer, and he also sponsors of high school athletics and other things, so if you’re in the market, go to Keweenaw Chevrolet! … Also thanks to Frei Chevrolet in Mqt, who gave us a truck to display at the fair there, and No Thanks to Riverside Chevrolet in Escanaba, who wouldn’t let us display a truck with their name on it to the 50,000 pairs of eyeballs at that fair.

I made the KTR Website, and all the KTR advertising: The Poster, XL Post Cards, Business Cards, Coasters, Stickers, and Banners. I did several radio interviews: my thanks to Rick Allen on his Copper Country Today show on 97.7 The Wolf, with Al Davis and his sidekick on Real Outdoor Radio on AM 600 in Escanaba, with Craig Woerpel with AM 680 Newsmakers, and with the local legend who is Mary Ann on WMPL just last week. We also did a 30 second spot on the KTR that has been airing this past week on Eagle Radio 98.7 and 105.7. I was on TV6 from the Mqt County Fair – thanks to Jon and Sophie for a great piece. Thank you Rick and Al and Craig and Mary Ann for having me on and helping spread the work about the NWC and the KTR. There are links to two of these interviews on the NWC website, and I think they do a good job explaining what the NWC is all about.

I did the Mqt Co Fair (4 days), UP State Fair (6 days), and the HoCo Fair (5 days), which actually was a lot of fun. If you’ve been reading my brief email updates : ) you know I manned the booth for 12 hours each day, car-camped, and bathed in the lake. It was really a blast. Thank you to my daughter Kate who rescued me at the State Fair and did the booth most of Saturday and Sunday, and to Ruth & David Owens, Jane, and Kathy Abbott who gave me breaks at the HoCo Fair.

And yesterday, I had a table at Econo Foods for 8 hours, where I sold a few tickets and collected several thousand dollars worth of receipts – we get 1% from Econo, Thanks Econo!

My thanks to Jane, who did all of the administration and bookkeeping, made hundreds of phone calls, and took phone orders. Btw, Jane also, in her spare time, does all the booking for CF Cabin, and all the administration for the NWC, including keeping the website updated.

Thank you to Ruth Mohr, NWC Board member, who had a NWC/KTR table at the Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor Art Fairs, and to John Dodge, who helped Ruth and who sold at least 20 tickets himself.

Thanks also to the SMP Volunteer Hosts Ann Testini and Dan Johnson, who sold tickets while hosting at The Point. Our agreement with the private road owners is: there will be a host on site, and Ann and Dan, and Ruth, have been the primary hosts this year. Thank You! Anyone can host, and if you do both Saturday and Sunday, you can camp at SMP Fri night and Sat night – just open the gate at noon and close after sunset on Sat and Sun.

Thanks to Jane, Ruth, Stephanie Schwartzendruber, Kate Griffith, and Evan Griffith, each of whom called at least 25 people from the NWC donor list, to give them a chance to buy a ticket.

And thanks to ALL in the NWC Family who contacted their friends and family, and used social media – email, FB, Twitter, Instagram, Christmas Card list – to spread the word about the KTR.

Thank you to Rosy of Rosy’s Diner in Escanaba. Rosy saw me on TV when I was in Mqt…. [expand on the Rosy story including: per Yelp, Rosy’s is THE NUMBER 1 DINER in Michigan! And THE NUMBER 2 DINER in All of the USA!!]

Thank you to Kierstin Waara of Superior Travel / Travel Leaders in Houghton (great service, great deals!), who sold tickets for us and for the last 3 weeks has featured the KTR on her big outside sign.

Thanks to Julie Cortright of the Bonfire Restaurant (7th Floor in Houghton — great food, great views!), who also sold tickets and displayed the poster and used the KTR Coasters all summer. Waitress and bartender extraordinaire Michele Chu, who was one of my swimmers when I coached the Houghton HS Swim Team, sold a lot tickets!

Thanks to Tom Romps and the crew at the Downtowner, who used the KTR Coasters.

And thanks to the 20+ other businesses who let us put up XLPC displays at their businesses. There are too many to name here, but each will get a thank you letter, and all will be listed and thanked on a KTR page on the NWC website (should go up within the week!).

This wasn’t ALL volunteers – the NWC paid to have staff at the Nature Center for the KTR. They will be paid out of the Raffle proceeds. Martha and Loretta Anderson did a great job, especially with record-keeping and compiling the master list. Annastiina Kesti came on strong in recent weeks.

Most of the tickets were sold thru the window here at the Ahmeek Streetcar Station Ice Cream Store. Spreading the word about the KTR and selling tickets was added to the responsibilities of everyone who works at the ice cream store, and we thank them for taking it on enthusiastically. To be clear, the NWC did NOT pay for these efforts.

I must thank the amazing owners of the Ahmeek Streetcar Station [full disclosure, that’s Jane and me] for having their employees do this volunteer work, and also for leasing this space, the NWC Nature Center, to the NWC for $1 per year. : ) : )

Jacob, Alexis, Jenna, Ema, Claire, and Jynessa: Thank You. I think Jacob sold the most tickets of anyone, including me at the fairs – he did a great job actually selling tickets rather than just processing them. Thank you Jacob (applaud). The NWC has decided to award Jacob $100 for his efforts, and the Ice Cream Store will give him an additional $100 bonus.

Now, before we actually draw the Winner… a couple things about Next Year!

We ARE going to do a Raffle. This year, our first year, we learned A LOT about how to do it better. And we plan to have a Committee to get more input and implement some changes.

I will mention only 3 changes:

First, it’s not going to be another truck. This big beautiful sexy truck was a great draw that generated quite a bit of interest, but next year will be different. I have an idea, an even better amazing idea, but for now… it’s a secret ; )

Second, the ticket price will be $100, or less. $145 was too high. You can sell more tickets if they’re cheaper, but at some point, we can’t sell a certain volume of tickets logistically. I think the reason we didn’t hit 1,000 this year was the price. But I also don’t think we could’ve sold, say, 10,000 $15 tickets, that’s just too many. Maybe 1,500 tickets at $100, maybe 2000 tickets at $75

Third, we need more help. We won’t launch a raffle unless we can share the load a little bit more. Everyone has 10-20 family and friends they can try to sell NWC raffle ticket to, with an expectation of actually selling 1 or 2 or 5. Jane and I have the same number as everyone, maybe 50 combined, and I think we got about 25 tickets sold thru that “nuclear” group, so ANYONE could get 1 or 2.

We have an email list of over 600 present and past supporters of the NWC. If each of those people bought a ticket and/or sold a ticket or 2 [AND MANY DID, thank you]… VOILA.

And if you support the NWC but can’t afford a ticket or donation, selling raffle tickets is a great way to support the NWC without having to fork over cash. We will consider paying people to sell tickets in 2019. Say, $5 per ticket. That could motivate some sales. We will also likely offer prizes (say, a weekend getaway) for those who sell a certain number of tickets (100?).

Anyway, for next year, we’re going to ask people to sign up to commit to buy, or sell, X number of tickets. One. Two. Ten. Twenty-five. Fifty.

Jane and I will take 50. The Streetcar Station will take 100. The fairs will cover at least 100. That’s 250. So when we get 750 more tickets “spoken for”, we will do a Raffle, and will be able to essentially guarantee all tickets will be sold. WE can do this!

The NWC will also ask people to sign up to do events – the 3 fairs, the art shows, the RV show, and other such events where the NWC could have a booth. I will do the UP State Fair again – that’s a whole week – so we need people to do Mqt and HoCo Fairs. It’s actually pretty fun. I highly recommend it. Being at a county fair is unexpectedly rewarding; it feels like a piece of Americana.

The Bottom Line is, the 2018 KTR was a Success!
* We identified a Raffle as a way that the NWC will be able to raise the money we need to service our debt, with some left over to do signage, build trails, and establish a nest egg. We still need you monthly sustainers and lump sum donors, you are the NWC’s bread-and-butter, but the Raffle takes a little of the pressure off.

* We reached a huge new audience in Marquette and Escanaba and across the UP, including of course people more interested in the truck raffle than the NWC, but also a sizable number of people who have joined the NWC family

* We raised public awareness about who we are, what we do, and the Natural Areas we have, waiting to be explored. There are many people who live here or visit regularly, who love to hike and fish and bird-watch and beach comb and do all the things the NWC exists to provide, but had never heard of us. So that’s a really good result.

* And, we sold 594 tickets, not enough to give away the truck, but a Gross Sales Total of $86,130, which means the 50/50 cash prize is… $43,065!

* Finally, we got a lot of the community and our membership involved. A part of this Raffle that I didn’t consider and that I perhaps often under-value: It is validating to work together toward a common goal. As was stated at the recent McCain funeral:

“There’s nothing more satisfying than fighting for a cause greater than yourself.”
and: “All efforts are worth it, even those that fall short, if it helps make the future better than the past.”

I agree whole-heartedly.

We did establish a certain Esprit de Corps, which is rewarding, and the KTR will make the future better by allowing the NWC to meet our financial obligations in 2018 and into 2019, thereby allowing the NWC to continue to provide Natural Areas – a total of 1100 acres, 2.1 miles of Lake Superior shoreline, and 2 miles of the Gratiot River — for Wildlife and People.

CONGRATULATIONS!

I know you’d like to hear more from me, but… shall we do the drawing?? : )

That ended my prepared comments. The list of ticket numbers-and-names was reviewed by many to confirm they, as ticket-holders, were indeed on the list. Then Jacob and Ema and I added the 1,000 sequentially numbered aluminum discs into the drum (100 stacks of 10 that had previously been publicly counted, to make certain all 1,000 numbers were represented in the drum), and the drum was spun and tipped on end several times, ending with me spinning it for 30 seconds, with the last 10 seconds counted down by the crowd.

It was pretty exciting!

I asked a young man in the crowd (if anyone knows who he was, please let us know) to come forward, close his eyes, reach into the tumbler drum, and draw a single disc. I told him he could grab one off the top or side, or dig around, or whatever he wanted. He dug around a little bit, pulled out a single disc, then read out the winning number: 320.

And the winner is…. Cathy Theisen, of Dexter, MI!! The 50/50 amount was $43,065.

CONGRATULATIONS CATHY!!

And THANK YOU EVERYONE for participating and helping. It was a success! The NWC Natural Areas are THERE FOR YOU!

So this fall… Get GOIN! (Get Out In Nature)! Take a Hike! Get the The Point! Or Go Jump in the Lake!

Seriously the fall is a great time for hikes and sunsets. Fall colors! Confusing Fall Warblers! Songbird and Eagle and Hawk Migrations!

Enjoy!

John