St. Mary of the Lake parish community hosted their Seventh semi-annual meat raffle.

If you have ever been to a meat raffle before, you know they can get very crazy, very fast. As soon as the first game began, c

Every meat raffle works a little differently but this one was fairly simple.

“Each game costs either one or three dollars per ticket, which will give you several chances to win one of the meat items within that game.” explained Kenneth Constable, one of the event coordinators, “After five games there was an intermission during which we raffled off some door prizes including a freezer chest stuffed with a variety of meat. Then we played more games followed by the grand finale. If your ticket number is called during the finale you have to compete with the other winners to get the first pick of whatever meat you want. This goes on until we run out of meat. People get pretty wild during the finale.”

When you mix competition over meat with large amounts of alcohol, it’s no wonder people get wild at these things.

“We went through almost all four kegs of beer before intermission.” said Amanda Mituzas, a volunteer working in the bar. “We were worried we would run out of beer. Fortunately the last keg was just enough to last the rest of the evening.”

According to the pastor of St. Mary of the Lake, Father Ted Jost, this particular meat raffle was much bigger than any the parish had hosted before, “We hit a new record,” Jost said, “Over 300 people came out which meant we were pretty much at capacity. There wasn’t even an extra chair in the building.”

After the meat raffle concluded, and the crowd trickled out, the money was counted. Elizabeth Constable has been volunteering to handle the money raised at every meat raffle since her parents started running it three years ago. “We still have to pay the meat bill.” said Elizabeth, “But I can confidently say that, even after the bill is paid, we will have raised at least five thousand dollars.”

According to the meat raffle hosts, Ken and Therese Constable, all the money raised will go to the parish.

“The money raised during the meat raffle is a huge help to the parish,” said Jost, “We need it to pay heat bills, electric bills, repairs, and so many other things. That being said, I don’t think we will ever stop doing the meat raffle. It’s a fast and fun way to raise money to benefit the parish community. Plus everyone gets to come out and have a good time with fellow parishioners, friends, and family.”

Jost encouraged anyone and everyone to come out to the next meat raffle at St. Mary of the Lake. “We love the outstanding attendance we saw tonight, however we could definitely use more volunteers,” Jost said. “So please help out next time if you can.”

The next meat raffle will be held on Friday, May 22nd 2020. All are welcome to attend and volunteer. More information on how to get involved can be found at smolparish.org.