Raffle of the Week: Holiday Cheer Fundraiser

2016-02-02

The Unionville-Milliken Soccer Club Invokes ‘Holiday Cheer’ with their Fundraiser for the UMSC 1999 Boys Soccer Team

The Unionville-Milliken Soccer Club celebrated the Christmas season with their UMSC 1999 Boys Soccer Team Holiday Cheer Fundraiser. The fundraiser included fun basket prizes such as five wine baskets, one sweet and savory basket, one chef basket and one coffee basket.

Joanne Melino wrote in an email interview that the fundraiser will go towards helping the young team with some of the expenses games such as travelling costs and tournament registration cost.

The boys’ team is one of many team divisions under the UMSC banner. The UMSC ‘s overall mission statement is, according to its site, “to foster interest and participation” in soccer and to provide playing opportunities for its club members, as well as “to develop the individual abilities of each soccer player with the aim of improving their plaing skills and the enjoyment of soccer as a whole.” The club, which began in 1976, is a non-profit community organization run by volunteers in Markham, Ontario. The club’s programs are offered for kids between 3 years old to 18 years old and adults 19 years old and up. Markham has supported the club throughout its inception and membership has increased thanks to community interest; as of 2011, the club boasted over 3000 outdoor and indoor players.

“Word of mouth,” stated Melino,  was what was used to promote the event. “Each player/family was responsible to sell a certain amount of tickets,” she wrote.

The fundraiser was a success, but it also had to go up against the holiday rush. “It went well, but given it was before the holidays, the sales were not as good as we had hoped,” she wrote.  Because of her experience, Melino has some advice for others considering  pairing their drawing with a popular holiday season. “ not associate a draw near the holidays!” she wrote.

The event’s biggest moment of the night was the moment when the prizes were awarded. “We involved the players to draw the tickets so it was nice to have all of the parents and players together.”

If you want to learn more about the UMSC , their team divisions, and how to join, check out their site.