Mark your calendars—the Raptor Speech and Debate team is back to fundraising! On Monday, April 29th, the team will be partnering with the local restaurant, The Jump, to put on their first-ever Bingo Night and Raffle. An interview with the Speech and Debate head coach, Shelby Jackson, elaborated on how this night will pan out.

Jackson explained that on that Monday, “We need everyone to pack the Jump at 6:30 PM to help support our team members who are traveling to Nationals in Des Moines, Iowa this summer. There will be games, great food, a raffle (the team will still be selling tickets at the event), and some amazing prizes.” Bingo cards will sell at $30 for 10. Each round of Bingo will award the winner with some great prizes, including a Gourmet Meat Variety Bundle from Daniel's Meat Shoppe (worth $350), signed Detroit Red Wings Hockey Stick from Mike Commodore, The Jump Gift Basket, Copper Bar and Grill Gift Card, an MSU Gift Basket, and much more.

But it doesn’t end with Bingo. A huge raffle will be hosted on the very same night, and it works as follows: “We have two different raffles going, our standard raffle and our premium raffle. The standard raffle includes prizes such as gift cards worth $25-50 apiece from local businesses such as Jam!, Starbucks, The Little Star Diner, The Roost, Backcountry Burger, Spice and Tea Exchange, Revelry, Car Washes, and a lot more, as well non-gift card items like a Batting Cage Rental. The premium raffle is going to be huge ticket items like a vacation package, a guided fishing trip, a spa gift basket, a wellness retreat, professional teeth whitening, and much more.” The pricing for the standard raffle will be $2 for 1 ticket or $5 for 5 tickets, while the premium raffle tickets will be $10 for 1 ticket or $30 for 4 tickets.

If you are unable to attend the event, no worries! “We will be able to contact you via phone number or email, so make sure you write your information on your purchased tickets.” Despite this, the team highly recommends and encourages attending the event, as it is an excellent opportunity for a night out on the town with your friends, family, coworkers, or simply on your own. The Jump has incredible food and hospitality, and even if you can’t contribute much, your presence is still considered a fantastic show of support.

As for purchasing raffle tickets, the process is very simple. You can find a team member or coach and ask to buy tickets, preferably with cash, however, they do accept Venmo as long as you communicate to a member of the team what the payment is for. Additionally, you can ask the person you’re buying tickets from if you can pay directly online for the tickets you receive, in which case you can navigate to the Gallatin Speech and Debate website and click on the Raptor S&D Donation page. Even if you aren’t able to buy tickets before the event, the team will still be selling the tickets in person at the Bingo Night, so there are many opportunities to enter the raffle!

This fundraiser in particular is really looking for community outreach. According to Jackson, “We are trying to get as many people involved as possible. It also serves two-fold; for one, it’s to help our National Qualifiers get to Des Moines, but additionally, we want to let the community know that we’re actually here and that we have some incredibly competitive and driven people on our team.”

To conclude, Jackson wanted to establish that, “Yes, you would be donating to our team—but you can also win some really cool prizes for yourself.”