It came down to the wire, and the St. Mary’s Knights of Columbus 13th Annual Charity Raffle goal appeared to be in jeopardy.  

Their goal of raising $10,000 for charity this year and reaching the ambitious goal of $250,000 in just 13 years almost seemed to be out of reach.  

Last year’s pandemic cut their raffle revenues in half, and the recovery was just beginning this year. But then it happened – there was a huge flood of revenue in the last 10 days and the raffle raised an astounding $17,000 for charitable organizations this year.

Grand Knight Al Scaramella and the Raffle Committee expressed high praise for the knights sacrificing their time to sell the tickets over the past several months, especially during the pandemic restrictions.  

They also thank the public for their generous support by helping the council raise the funds for the charitable organizations again this year.  

Donation checks will soon be distributed to the Holliston Pantry Shelf, food pantries in several surrounding towns where raffle venues were held, the Holliston Senior Center, Homes for Our Troops, and Habitat for Humanity. A small amount will be held in reserve for other donations throughout the next several months.

And the winners? Well, first prize winner Neil Denny ($1,000) was flabbergasted, Paula O’Brien was thrilled to receive second prize ($500), Elina Robertson had a big smile with third prize ($250), fourth prize ($150) winner Doug Crowe generously donated his money back to the council to be added to their charitable donations, and fifth prize ($100) winner Debra Thistle couldn’t be happier. Indeed, five very happy winners. 

Scaramella pointed out that, unfortunately, the needs of all these charities — and others — has not diminished. So, while the council’s lofty goal of raising a quarter of a million dollars for charity has been reached, they’ll work on achieving new higher goal until the funds are no longer necessary. Stay tuned for next year…