Senior Center hosts 5th Meat Raffle

The common cry inside the Johnston Senior Center early last Sunday afternoon was, “Where’s the beef?”

By 4 p.m., the beef was gone.

But so were packages of chicken, pork and sausage, as well as turkeys. In short, upwards of 60 people had the winning tickets for Sunday’s fifth annual Meat Raffle, which Millie Santilli, the center’s assistant director, called a “huge success.”

“We couldn’t have asked for a better day,” Santilli said. “The people who showed up Sunday – and won – were just thrilled with the outcome.”

So were many people who purchased tickets but didn’t attend the center’s fifth annual unique fundraiser, yet still had their ticket pulled for either a package of beef, chicken, pork or sausage, a turkey or gift cards to supermarkets like Stop & Shop.

And, some ladies like Mary Rawson – who had the second winning ticket, but was the first person on site to win – won twice.

That’s because under current raffle rules, once a person’s winning ticket is pulled, it goes back into the wooden barrel with all the other tickets. Santilli – who served as barrel spinner-emcee on Sunday – then had the announced winner draw the next ticket.

In Rawson’s case, she won back-to-back packages of meat and chicken – and ironically, the same person who drew her ticket pulled the very next one and announced her name again.

“This must be a lucky table,” Rawson said while sitting with ladies like Lucille Casali, Ann McGowan and Gert Connors.

It was one of several tables that had multiple winners Sunday. Not too long after Rawson’s second win, Santilli announced Casali as yet another winner in the raffle, which had upwards of 60 prizes.

From the time Santilli announced Mike McKeon as the first winner, people enjoyed the two-hour event.

Santilli, who is one of the founders of the raffle along with Cindy Galipeau and Linda Quinn, gave event-goers all kinds of insight into each and every winner. She was also ably assisted by Louisa Iannotti, another of the event’s founding members.

And Sunday, Ellen Trementozzi was also “huge help” according to Santilli, as she and Cindy Galipeau recorded each and every winner.

There were other people who helped make the fifth annual Meat Raffle an overwhelming success, too.

Six of them were members of the Johnston Police Explorer Post 405, who served snacks and soft drinks to each and every attendee throughout the fun-filled event. The Explores were Abby Heiser, Mason Lariviere, Ryan Best, Heather Best, Nickolas LaPiere and Dianna Jordan.

They were accompanied by Post 405 advisors Terry Best and Chris Giardina, along with Johnston Police Capt. Thomas Dolan and Lt. Steve Guilmette. Santilli’s husband John – and Galipeau’s husband Ron – also played huge roles in the day’s success, as they went table-to-table selling the ever popular 50/50 raffle tickets and chances to win a beautiful handmade quilt that was donated especially for Sunday’s raffle by Fran Zanni.

In the end, it was déjà vu for Zanni, who had the winning 50/50 ticket.

“We’re so happy for her,” Santilli said while thanking the people for coming and inviting them back next year. “She’s such a wonderful person. She never asked to be reimbursed for supplies to make the quilt. She just donated, just like she’s done after making many quilts for the center.”

Finally, it was Tarja Vienonen – yet another super center supporter and member – who took home the clever craftsmanship of Zanni, a.k.a. the beautiful blue-accented quilt.