Big Winners Announced
Share
Tweet
On June 24, from a room rented at Vine 19, Board Members of the Plant a Seed . . . READ organization announced the names of thirty-three lucky winners who purchased raffle tickets in their recent fundraising effort. The Grand Prize winner of $1500 was Hi-Line Rental. In second place, Lorraine Verploegen won $500, while Sandy Wilson secured the third place prize of $250.
Shaylan Verploegen, who serves on the Board of Directors as the group’s treasurer, uploaded a live video to the organization’s Facebook Page during which the top three winners were selected at approximately 8:00 p.m. last Wednesday. Even though the drawing was private, the group encouraged people to visit Triple Dog Brewing Company to drink a pint on Pint Night.
During Pint Night, for every pint of beer sold from 4:00– 8:00 p.m., Triple Dog Brewing Company donated a dollar to Plant a Seed . . . READ in support of literacy.
Consolation Round winners of the organization’s raffle were also drawn earlier in the evening. Winners were determined by the order in which their tickets were pulled from the prize bucket:
First Round Winners
1st-Teresa Wynia $100
20th - Scott Wink $50
40th- John @ G&B $50
50th- Teresa Wynia $100
60th- Kathy Kleinjan $50
80th- Terry Lilletvedt $50
100th- Greg Heidrich $100
Round Two Winners
120th- Marit Ita $50
140th- Donna Miller $50
150th- Charlene Lowen $100
160th- Lana Herman $50
180th- Jessie Graham $50
200th- Andie Kuhr $100
Round Three Winners
220th- Lorrie Hanson $50
240th- Ron & Kathy Fanning $50
250th- Joanne Lindstrand $100
260th- Lana Herman $50
280th- Cori Winsor $50
300th- Ann McKnight $100
Fourth Round Winners
320th- Larry Tilleman $50
340th- Lisa O’Neil $50
350th- Karla Geda $100
360th- Hi-Line Rental $50
380th- Andre Sandness $50
400th- Shandra Buhmann $100
Round Five Winners
420th- Jerry Olson $50
440th- Laura Malasani $50
450th- Cyndi Leeds $100
460th- Eleanor Bricker $50
480th- Linda Morse $50
After announcing the monetary prize winners of the Plant a Seed . . . READ raffle, Shaylan Verploegen expressed her gratitude for everyone’s support and participation in the drawing. She also explained that the funds raised through this raffle are unrestricted funds.
“This means that the Board will decide where the money is needed the most, and their determination was that the money raised from the raffle will fund the Imagination Library,” Verploegen reported.
Given that designation, the big winners will actually be the young people who will benefit from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a book gifting program that launched in 1995. Those who support the Library are essentially partnering with parents and caregivers so that more children succeed in school and in life.
Initially, Parton’s vision was to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families living in East Tennessee where she saw a lot of poverty. Hoping to ensure that all children would have books, regardless of their family’s income, the new program gave each child a specially selected book each month. Mailing high quality, age appropriate books directly to their homes was intended not only to excite children about books but to share the magic that books can create.
According to the gifting program’s website, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library currently sends out more than one million books per month to children around the world “inspiring them to dream more, learn more, care more and be more.”
Because the Plant a Seed . . . READ organization is aware of the importance of reading and realizes that children who start kindergarten behind struggle to catch up—if they ever do—they are committed to closing the school readiness gap.
Statistics document that children—from birth to age five—learn at a speed unmatched during the rest of their lives. Actively engaging families during these critical developmental years is the most effective way to nurture a child's learning.
All children from birth to age five in Blaine, Hill, and Phillips counties are eligible to obtain books from the Imagination Library through the support of Plant a Seed . . . READ. Although Imagination Library chooses and sends the books, it does not pay for them. Local groups, such as Plant a Seed...READ, raise the money to cover these costs in the name of nurturing literacy.
Founded in January of 2010, the Plant a Seed . . . READ Program is an educational community impact project that not only advocates for literacy but supports children in North Central Montana with readiness skills prior to kindergarten. This proactive nonprofit encourages and educates communities and families about the importance of reading aloud to preschool children. Their motto—To plant, to nurture, to grow, to excel—speaks to reading’s ability to contribute to life-long achievement.
Verploegen also commented that she would later recognize many of the winners who donated either part or all of their winnings back to Plant a Seed . . . READ. These monies will help to pay for the group’s operating costs, covering such items as internet, postage, and advertising.
