“Would you like to buy a raffle ticket? We’re raising money for the work we do for and with people who have an intellectual disability”.
We made a plan for activities that we could organize to generate small or moderate amounts of income for our work. The members of the Board of the Ruach Foundation, the carers in the Ruach Home and the employees of the Ruach Activities Centre have all put their heads together and agreed to participate in the implementation of the various plans.
May is a busy month, but nonetheless we have planned two ‘rifas’ (or raffles). A rifa is not merely a lottery; it is the ‘allotting’ of a particular object that people find attractive. For example, we bought an electric rice cooker, which is a beautiful and precious gift in a country where rice is part of every lunch.
But how do you persuade people to be part of the raffle and compete for this gift? People do that by signing up on a form. More precisely, we print 55 copies of the form which we then share out among friends, acquaintances and people who wish us well.They try and find 10 people who for 5 cordoba ( = about 16 dollar cents) signtheir name and telephone number by one of the ten lottery numbers on the form. There is a date on which all 55 sheets should be returned.
The winner of the raffle will then be selected on a special occasion overseen by many people, (usually in a meeting of the Ruach Board) by first drawing 1 list out of the 55, and then 1 number out of the 10 numbers on the selected list. Our profit depends on the money raised by the selling of the ‘rifas’ minus the price of the gift. It’s clear that this is not ‘ a million dollar’ business! The last raffle raised about 2500 cordoba, which minus the cost of the gift @ 650c resulted in a net profit of 1850c, or about $ 60 US.
But the rifa does more than raise a little money. It helps to draw attention to our work from a wider public. Although only a few ask penetrating questions about our work, almost all will catch the name of our Foundation. And with Ruach’s growing reputation we can achieve more the next time round.
The next raffle was launched on 18th May. Would you like to sign up for a chance to win a blender? Then put your name down on the contact form. The draw will be at the end of May.