Drawing a success

“I brought a staple puller,” Carla

Youngkin, president of the Mineral County We Care announced as she

arrived at the group’s monthly meeting last Thursday.

Members were pulling raffle tickets

apart and the staple puller was going to move things along quicker.

The small box that Jim DePree wasn’t going to be able to hold the

large amount of tickets that the group sold either and so Youngkin

improvised, borrowing the trash can from a corner.

“It’s big enough so we’ll be able to

mix them up really well,” she noted.

Barbara Johnson who was going to draw

the tickets only laughed, noting that she was expecting a machine

that would blow the tickets around.

The group printed a thousand tickets

for four raffle items, selling them for a dollar a piece of six for

five bucks. With only a few ticket books left, the members were

eager to see how much money they had raised.

As the money was counted and tickets

funneled and mixed together, Youngkin passed around an application

for assistance that had been drawn up. The group has already helped

two families this year and once all the details are worked out,

they want to continue to help more.

The idea for the group, which aims to

provide assistance to those living in Mineral County, is actually a

few years old, but has finally just come together this year.

Youngkin and Gordon Hendrick had discussed the idea of an

organization that would help people in need.

“We thought it was a really great idea

and finally we decided to go for it,” Youngkin said. “And so we

contacted a few friends to see if there was interest.”

There was, and nearly 20 people

gathered for the meeting last Thursday; people who are more than

willing to help out where they can. The purpose of the organization

states, “Mineral County ‘We Care’ is a non-profit corporation,

governed by its own board of directors with recommendations from

other community resources. It was established to coordinate the

efforts of various social services agencies, community service

organizations and local churches in providing assistance to people

in need in Mineral County and to facilitate the rendering of such

assistance in a unified manner.”

People who bought tickets for the

raffle and the organizations that donated prizes helped to do just

that. With all the tickets in the together and mixed, it was time

to draw for the prizes.

At the meeting, the group decided they

would draw first for the least expensive prize and work their way

up.

Aaron Lapierre won the $25 Gift

Certificate to Jackie’s Home Cookin. Norma Stepan won the $50 Gift

Certificate to the OK Café in St. Regis. Deanna and Ron Nelson won

the $100 worth of meat from Jerry Stroot with Superior Meats.

Finally, Delores Ringer won four tickets to the Missoula Children’s

Theatre production of a “White Christmas.”

Overall, the group raised around $550

before any expenses were subtracted. Everyone was impressed by the

amount of money they had raised and Youngkin thought that they had

done a great job.

“We did well,” Youngkin said.