Certainly of major importance have been our fund-raising projects because they provide support for many of our service projects. Initially, we worked with projects of larger clubs by selling Christmas trees at Memorial Stadium and Cortana Mall with the Capital City club and selling tickets and providing labor for the Downtown club’s Pancake Day. When Christmas tree sales ended, we had matured enough to adopt our own fundraisers. For two years, we manned a concession stand at LSU basketball games, but that proved too labor intensive to maintain. Briefly, we tried selling Christmas tree ornaments, fried turkeys, and salsa (but not in the same year).
Our long-standing fund-raiser since 1986 (36 years through 2024 except 2020 and 2021 due to Covid)) has been a jambalaya lunch each spring from the Nelson Memorial Building at LSU. Sales have varied widely with a high of 1,262 servings in 2006 and a low of 582 in 2016. Several members have played major roles, but probably most known for his dedication to this project was long-time cook and organizer Dan Fontenot. Then some members arrived as early as 5:30 am the next morning to do the cooking. When our sources of jambalaya pots and cooking expertise became unavailable, the jambalaya was prepared by a local restaurant. In 2022 we returned to cooking it ourselves. We do prep on the previous evening to cut up ingredients, mix the slaw, and obtain the rolls, dessert, utensils, Styrofoam containers, soft drinks, and cardboard boxes used for group orders. Our champion ticket seller was always Olin Dart until he passed away. Then Blanche Cano sold the most tickets for several years. Prices were $4 for 1986-1998, $5 in 1999-2008, $6 in 2009-2011, $7 in 2012-2018, and $8 since 2019. Profit per ticket has ranged between $3.35 in 2003 and $5.03 in 2013.
In 2011 (12 years as of 2023 excluding 2020 because of the Covid pandemic), resulting from lower jambalaya sales and our commitment to the international eliMiNaTe project (MNT), we added an annual art raffle each fall with a drawing in early December. The first few times, a George Rodrigue “Blue Dog” print was the sole prize. More recently, we expanded to multiple prizes and other artworks. Annual net proceeds after expenses have ranged between $2,391 in 2014 and $4,847 in 2011. Our champion ticket seller most years has been Blanche Cano. Since 2018, after completing our Model Club commitment to the eliMiNaTe project, a major portion of art raffle proceeds have been committed to the Kiwanis Family House of Louisiana, a facility being established to provide short-term low-cost housing for out-of-town families with children undergoing medical care in the new Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital and the burn unit of Baton Rouge General Hospital.
History #05 – Fundraising
Kiwanis Club of Louisiana State University
Certainly of major importance have been our fund-raising projects because they provide support for many of our service projects. Initially, we worked with projects of larger clubs by selling Christmas trees at Memorial Stadium and Cortana Mall with the Capital City club and selling tickets and providing labor for the Downtown club’s Pancake Day. When Christmas tree sales ended, we had matured enough to adopt our own fundraisers. For two years, we manned a concession stand at LSU basketball games, but that proved too labor intensive to maintain. Briefly, we tried selling Christmas tree ornaments, fried turkeys, and salsa (but not in the same year).
Our long-standing fund-raiser since 1986 (36 years through 2024 except 2020 and 2021 due to Covid)) has been a jambalaya lunch each spring from the Nelson Memorial Building at LSU. Sales have varied widely with a high of 1,262 servings in 2006 and a low of 582 in 2016. Several members have played major roles, but probably most known for his dedication to this project was long-time cook and organizer Dan Fontenot. Then some members arrived as early as 5:30 am the next morning to do the cooking. When our sources of jambalaya pots and cooking expertise became unavailable, the jambalaya was prepared by a local restaurant. In 2022 we returned to cooking it ourselves. We do prep on the previous evening to cut up ingredients, mix the slaw, and obtain the rolls, dessert, utensils, Styrofoam containers, soft drinks, and cardboard boxes used for group orders. Our champion ticket seller was always Olin Dart until he passed away. Then Blanche Cano sold the most tickets for several years. Prices were $4 for 1986-1998, $5 in 1999-2008, $6 in 2009-2011, $7 in 2012-2018, and $8 since 2019. Profit per ticket has ranged between $3.35 in 2003 and $5.03 in 2013.
In 2011 (12 years as of 2023 excluding 2020 because of the Covid pandemic), resulting from lower jambalaya sales and our commitment to the international eliMiNaTe project (MNT), we added an annual art raffle each fall with a drawing in early December. The first few times, a George Rodrigue “Blue Dog” print was the sole prize. More recently, we expanded to multiple prizes and other artworks. Annual net proceeds after expenses have ranged between $2,391 in 2014 and $4,847 in 2011. Our champion ticket seller most years has been Blanche Cano. Since 2018, after completing our Model Club commitment to the eliMiNaTe project, a major portion of art raffle proceeds have been committed to the Kiwanis Family House of Louisiana, a facility being established to provide short-term low-cost housing for out-of-town families with children undergoing medical care in the new Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital and the burn unit of Baton Rouge General Hospital.
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