In these trying times, a humble 2000 Pontiac Montana minivan is getting paid forward four times over.
It was donated to the Bread Shed, which raffled it off, the winner plans to donate it to her church, which will donate it to someone in need.
“We feed 30,000 people, but we’ve never had any money at the end of the month. With all of this coming on and the extra expenses, we thought we’d try this,” said Jim Ward, an organizer for the Bread Shed. “It was also, thinking about a fun way to do stuff.”
The Bread Shed sold 150 tickets at $20 a ticket. When they sold all 150 tickets, they held the drawing and Sherry Froderman was the lucky winner.
Froderman wasn’t in need of a car and wasn’t expecting to win. In her mind, she was making a much-needed $20 donation to the Bread Shed.
“I love the work that they do so I was happy to help them out,” she said. “I just know there’s someone out there who could use a minivan a whole lot more than me.”
The Bread Shed is already holding another raffle for a 2006 Chevy Cobalt. Again, once it sells 150 tickets at $20 a piece, it will draw a name. Ward said they’d sold about 40 tickets as of Tuesday afternoon.
“Hopefully people just keep donating vehicles for them to make more money,” Froderman said.
Added Ward, “We won’t do it forever, but we’re going to do it for a while, until all this blows over.”
Interestingly, many of the ticket purchases are coming in through Paypal at donate.breadshed@gmail.com and The Bread Shed treasurer sends out a little ticket.
The Bread Shed is also giving away a bicycle each Wednesday in Willie Wonka style.
As kids from the school district come to pick up their breakfast and lunches for the day, The Bread Shed puts a “Golden Ticket” inside one bag and the winner gets to pick one of the donated bicycles. There are about five left, Ward said, putting the promotion through the end of the month. The giveaway adds a fun way to increase the number of children fed, which Ward said has dramatically increased in the past week.
Currently, The Bread Shed is also giving out diapers on Thursdays and has its large monthly distribution this Saturday.
“If you can not spend $40 on diapers and spend $40 on food, it’s a win,” said Ward, adding they’ve given out 15,000 diapers in the past two months and expect to give out another 8,000-10,000 this week. “We are no different than everybody else that has increased expenses and the money hasn’t made it yet. We’re kind of right there with everybody.”
Anyone interested in learning more about The Bread Shed’s current fundraisers, activities or would like to donate can go to www.breadshed.org or its Facebook page at The Bread Shed.