By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
SPENCER ó Almost $7,000 was raised a week ago Saturday through a raffle aimed at generating funds for Spencer’s Hometown Holidays committee.
Group members are responsible for decorating downtown Spencer for the Christmas holidays.
More than 50 prizes were donated for the raffle. Dinner and drawings for prize winners were held at the Spencer Moose Lodge. About 200 people attended.
Of the almost $7,000 that was raised, $5,000 will be kept for the Hometown Holidays committee to pay for more decorations. The remaining $2,000 will go back to community groups that helped with ticket sales.
“What they accomplished was a great sense of community support and spirit,” Clyde Miller, governor of the Spencer Moose Lodge, said of Hometown Holidays committee members.
Randy Gettys, Spencer’s former mayor pro tem, served as emcee.
“There were so many people from the community that I knew that it felt like I was having this event in my own back yard,” said committee member Marla Gobbel.
The most-valued prize of the night, a 2-carat diamond cluster ring donated by Debbie Barnhardt Jewelers, was won by Phylis Alderman.
Unclaimed gifts are available for pick up at Stoudemire’s Furniture on South Salisbury Avenue.
Hometown Holidays committee members took it upon themselves last year to decorate downtown Spencer in a fashion that hadn’t been witnessed in decades. Committee members said they hope to expand their work this year.