BELIEVING IN BLUFFTON GALA

Posted by Donna Huffman 
 

Wednesday, November 15, 2008, the Bluffton Rotary Club held their very first "Believing in Bluffton" party.  This was the gala event to celebrate the end of a year long fundraiser where our club members sold 600 raffle tickets for $100 dollars each, to win a new Mercedes.

The festivities were held at the RotaryCommunity Center and aside from a little rain...well, okay, at one time there was a lot of rain, the party was a tremendous success.

 

The community center was packed and aromas of tasty dishes hung in the air and the music was delightful. Carl T. Smith, author of several novels about the Lowcountry, auctioned off a spot as a character in his new novel. The bidding went along generously and Rotarian Chris Golis finally won. Little does Carl T. know - he just got himself a whole lot of character to work with.

The Believing in Bluffton party was about awards too. Mayor Hank Johnston was given a nice plaque commemorating his eight years as mayor of Bluffton and Mary O'Neill and Donna Huffman were awarded for outstanding community service and contributions. Sandy and Michele Hunter were recognized for bringing the whole Mercedes concept to our Rotary Club. Steve Tilton accepted a check for $10,000 on behalf of the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry the second installment for the Bluffton fund.

 

Then the moment everyone was waiting for:

 

The real story here isn't that fellow Rotarian, Gwynn Baker, won a brand new 2009 Mercedes-Benz C300 sports sedan, it is that indeed," THIS IS ALL OVER." For the most part we conducted this fundraiser under "perfect conditions" for the last year, given the facts that we were responsible for selling 600 raffle tickets for $100 each and keeping up with all the stubs. Whew!!!