Help Mount Madonna School raise cash and enter raffle for free
Santa Cruz home
Gilroy – Finally, a fundraiser that doesn’t involve candy bars.
Thankfully the brass at Mount Madonna School, the private k-12 institutions nestled in the fog enshrouded Santa Cruz Mountains, put their heads together and envisioned a money-making vehicle that doesn’t add inches to the waistline.
“The school was thinking out of the box, dynamic ways to fundraise,” said Neal Martin-Zeavy, the school’s raffle coordinator. “”Bake sales aren’t cutting it.”
So instead of hawking Bundt cakes, the school is selling raffle tickets at $150 a pop. And get this, the grand prize is an entire house.
That’s right, $150 for a $1.8 million Santa Cruz home. Few are likely to close the door on that deal. If all 32,000 raffle tickets are sold, Mount Madonna will gross $4.6 million.
After paying off the various expenses needed to run the fundraiser, the rest of the cash will be used to pay off debt incurred from the construction of the new middle and high school campus, which was completed in 2004 and to expand the school’s offerings.
The grand prize winner may choose the Santa Cruz home or $1.5 million in cash. Since only 32,000 tickets will be sold, the chances of winning the Mount Madonna Dream Home are relatively high.
In addition, contestants will be awarded a total of 319 cash prizes ranging from $300 to $25,000. Tickets have been selling quickly since going on sale the first day of September. Sales will end May 18 and the drawing is June 2.
The house was donated by a couple, who requested anonymity and don’t have children at the school.
“They’re very big hearted and gracious people and we feel very honored to be working (with them),” Martin-Zeavy said.
Mount Madonna School opened in 1979 and currently has an enrollment of 175 students. The school educates students from both sides of the mountain, including Gilroy, Morgan Hill, Aptos, Watsonville and Hollister.
