Blowhole at the waterfront of Xcaret Park near Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Toluca on December 24th!

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Fundraising here at the park

There is a big volunteer contingent here at the park, and some of the biggest are the people who sit on the board of directors. Many of them make a two or three (or more) year commitment to sit in on meetings, come up with ideas, voice their opinion, and have a turn at running the park along with six or eight other people.

As park managers, we are in the special position of being able to see most of what goes on behind the scenes, and these people who sit on the board don't get enough recognition for the hard work they do in benefit of the park.

They've organized two fundraisers for the park this year, and one of them promises to be a lot of fun.


Every Friday and Saturday throughout July and August they're doing a "Chase the Ace" lottery. It's similar to a 50/50 draw, in that some of the money goes back to a ticket buyer immediately that night. You buy tickets for $2.00 a piece. It's only open for one hour, between 8-9pm, and immediately following there is a draw where the winner receives 20% of the pot. He then gets to cut a deck of cards, and if the ace of spades comes up he gets the other 30%. And of course 50% goes back to the park. And whatever card is drawn gets removed from the pack, so every draw afterwards gets better and better odds of winning the jackpot.

But if nobody draws an ace of spades throughout the summer, the jackpot continues to grow...up to a maximum $50 grand! So there could be a huge win for someone

So last night was the very first  one, and it was very sucessful and everybody had a good time. The 20% winner got $85, which he promptly donated back to the park! We're doing another one this evening, and again every weekend throughout the summer.


And the other one is a raffle with an almost $10,000 ride on mower as the grand prize. Second prize is a seasonal campsite here at the park for next year.

So, great work, board of directors! Looks like this is going to be a very sucessful fundraising year for the park!

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10 comments:

  1. Sounds like a fun way to possibly win a few bucks and raise money for the park as well.

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    1. Yep, and it looks like everyone is having a good time with it! I can't wait to see how high the pot will get before someone wins it.

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  2. That must be one heck of a riding lawn mower! Sounds like fun. I wonder if anyone will win the 50K?

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    1. Yep, it is very similar to the mower we use here at the park, actually it from the same shop, so a good high quality zero turn mower. 50K is the highest that the pot can possibly go but chances are the pot won't get that high, it would have to be ideal conditions for it to reach that amount, still it will be some nice chuck change to whoever does win it. :-)

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  3. Great fundraising ideas. It's a win win for everyone.

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    1. Yes, definitely some great ideas. The park is a non-profit park so all the money goes back into improving the park which makes it better for everyone.

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  4. Lotteries are proven to be the easiest way to get people to part with their money. It's fun too.

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    1. Yep, so true. As the saying goes, "You can win if you don't buy a ticket"!

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  5. Nice of that guy to donate the money back. It takes a lot of people to make something like that park work right.

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    1. That guy is one of the most giving people that we have ever met. He has helped the park many times but then again so have many other people. It is nice to see so many people here support the park either financially or through volunteering their time in some way or another. The people here are wonderful. :-)

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