Raffle

Tibbi Kulwicki, of Abingdon, was the winner of the 2011-12 Bel Air Lions Club quilt raffle. Kulwicki accepted her prize at the April 17 meeting.

When it comes to Erika Brannock, a Cockeysville resident who lost her lower left leg in the Boston Marathon bombing, and Brannock's mother, Carol Downing, the staff at Graul's Market in Hereford consider them part of the family. Brannock, a preschool teacher at Trinity Episcopal Children's Center, in Towson, worked in the store's deli department while she was in college and grad school, and she still keeps in close touch with her former co-workers. "Erika worked here for six and a half years before she became a teacher," said store manager Ken Bullen.

The Double-A Bowie Baysox announced a raffle to benefit the earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. The team is partnering with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF to raffle a pair of 2010 season tickets, and 100 percent of every dollar raised will support UNICEF's relief efforts for children in Haiti. Fans can go to baysox.com to purchase raffle tickets. Each ticket costs $10, and fans can purchase as many tickets as they want until the raffle closes at 5 p.m. Jan. 29. The winner will receive a pair of lower reserved seat tickets for all 71 Baysox 2010 home games.

Concert Singer/songwriter Dave Tieff shares his message that people can overcome addiction to lead productive lives through storytelling and songs from his latest albums, "Time to Fly" and "A Trip into the Sun," at 7 p.m. Sept. 15 in Anne Arundel Community College's Pascal Center for the Performing Arts, 101 College Parkway in Arnold. Tickets are $15; $12 for faculty and staff; $7 for AACC students. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the college's substance-abuse education programs.

A Colorado woman who won a $1.2 million home in Edgewater in a $50-a-ticket raffle last January has sold the property to a local church at a bargain-basement price. "Hooray, finally!" said Karen McHale, 47, who lives in a home she built with her husband in the mountains west of Denver and never intended to move to the Mid-Atlantic. "I tell you, that was a giant rock around my neck." McHale said she bought two raffle tickets last year as a contribution to the charity that was co-sponsoring the contest, which came about when a mortgage broker teamed up with the Annapolis-based We Care and Friends, which helps at-risk youths, to sell his home.

A raffle of a $1.6 million house in Baltimore County sounded good to some people - enough to sell 12,000 tickets at $100 a pop. But organizers needed about 20,000 ticket sales to make it worthwhile, and they were hoping for 35,000. So: no raffle. Reader Steve Scarborough told me he got a refund for the two tickets he bought, but "they kept $5.96 per ticket." "I suppose that could add up to a tidy profit for them even if they only sold half of the 35,000 tickets," he wrote in an e-mail.

Dr. C. Ronald Franks has shown aggressiveness and imagination in his campaign for the Senate Republican nomination, but in raffling off a Colt AR-15 H-BAR assault weapon to raise campaign funds, he showed insensitivity and irresponsibility bordering on the criminal. The crime? Possibly aiding and abetting some criminal's acquisition of a deadly weapon that Congress has voted to ban.Dr. Franks says he would not agree to awarding the prize to a criminal or ex-criminal, but, apparently, he has taken no steps to make sure the anonymous winner is the sort of person who should have an AR-15 (whatever kind of person that is)

A hearty breakfast at the Center Club kicked off the secon House with a Heart Raffle, sponsored by the House with a Heart Foundation. The group hopes to raise $300,000 to fund projects for Action for the Homeless.Last year's raffle landed Bob Gilwee of Sparks a new home in Odenton and raised more than a quarter of a million dollars, which was distributed to help Maryland's 47,000 homeless people. This year's raffle home is a three-bedroom town house, valued at $126,000, in Harford County's Belle Manor development.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: People helping people is what the House with a Heart is all about. And what's so neat about the House with a Heart project, which will benefit Maryland's homeless, is that we all have a chance to win. All it takes is a lot of luck and a little money -- $10 for a ticket, and anyone could win a lovely new home in Seven Oaks, a new community in Anne Arundel County.The raffle drawing will be held at the house on Oct. 26 and it should be quite a show, especially if Barbara Bush says yes to Gov. William Donald Schaefer's invitation to draw the winning ticket.

Douglas Ordway of Charlotte, N.C., had the winning ticket last night in the Howard County Democratic Party's handgun trigger-lock raffle. Ordway's ticket was plucked from among 1,000 $1 tickets that were sold as part of a partisan effort to draw a contrast to Carroll County Republicans, who raffled a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun in February. The raffle for the safety device came after three hours of schmoozing and speeches at the Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner, an annual fund-raising event for the Democratic Party.

Tibbi Kulwicki, of Abingdon, was the winner of the 2011-12 Bel Air Lions Club quilt raffle. Kulwicki accepted her prize at the April 17 meeting.

"New Works" exhibit of oil and pastel paintings by Rana Geralis of her favorite subjects, horses and nature, is on view through Friday, Oct. 28, at Artists' Gallery, American City Building, 10227 Wincopin Circle in Columbia. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays and 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. Closed Sundays. Gallery is also open by appointment. Information: 410-740-8249 or artistsgallerycolumbia.com. Sunday, Oct. 23 'Fall Spooktacular' Event for children ages 3-12 will be held from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Gary J. Arthur Community Center, 2400 Route 97 in Cooksville.

The Restaurant Association of Maryland (RAM) Education Foundation wants to put you an Audi. The top prize in the 12th annual car raffle fundraiser is an 2012 Audi A3 from Valley Motor, with $10,000 and $5,000 as second and third prize, respectively.  "This year's car raffle is a WIN-WIN for everyone involved," said Michael Birchenall, chairman of the RAM Education Foundation board of directors.    Everyone purchasing a $300 raffle...

A raffle of a $1.6 million house in Baltimore County sounded good to some people - enough to sell 12,000 tickets at $100 a pop. But organizers needed about 20,000 ticket sales to make it worthwhile, and they were hoping for 35,000. So: no raffle. Reader Steve Scarborough told me he got a refund for the two tickets he bought, but "they kept $5.96 per ticket." "I suppose that could add up to a tidy profit for them even if they only sold half of the 35,000 tickets," he wrote in an e-mail.

The Double-A Bowie Baysox announced a raffle to benefit the earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. The team is partnering with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF to raffle a pair of 2010 season tickets, and 100 percent of every dollar raised will support UNICEF's relief efforts for children in Haiti. Fans can go to baysox.com to purchase raffle tickets. Each ticket costs $10, and fans can purchase as many tickets as they want until the raffle closes at 5 p.m. Jan. 29. The winner will receive a pair of lower reserved seat tickets for all 71 Baysox 2010 home games.

The first of eight weekends promoting a raffle in which the grand prize is a $200,000 home in Odenton's Seven Oaks development begins tomorrow with a program on outdoor awareness.The state Department ofNatural Resources will showcase a variety of activities over the weekend, from historical re-enactments to an animal rehabilitation exhibit.Proceeds from the raffle will go to Action for the Homeless, an organization that works to take people living on the street and give them a pace to call home.

The Linthicum Lions Club will raffle two box seats to Cal Ripken's expected record-breaking game Sept. 6 at Camden Yards. The raffle is one of the club's fund-raisers to help people with vision problems.A public drawing for the winning chance and seats will take place at 7 p.m. Labor Day at the bandstand in Linthicum Park on Benton Avenue. Raffle tickets will be sold during the hour before the drawing. Chances are $1 each.Proceeds will be used to help the blind and people with sight or vision problems caused by disease.

A Colorado woman who won a $1.2 million home in Edgewater in a $50-a-ticket raffle last January has sold the property to a local church at a bargain-basement price. "Hooray, finally!" said Karen McHale, 47, who lives in a home she built with her husband in the mountains west of Denver and never intended to move to the Mid-Atlantic. "I tell you, that was a giant rock around my neck." McHale said she bought two raffle tickets last year as a contribution to the charity that was co-sponsoring the contest, which came about when a mortgage broker teamed up with the Annapolis-based We Care and Friends, which helps at-risk youths, to sell his home.