St. Mary Help of Christians Catholic School is celebrating a recent legislative amendment that now allows nonprofit organizations to conduct raffles for charitable or educational purposes.
The school's raffle will be held during Bling, Bow Ties & Blue Jeans, an event that will feature the music of The Palmetto Groove Band and include dinner from Blaz N Buz Catering, a cash bar, live and silent auctions, party bidding and cornhole tournaments.
The raffle winner will be drawn at 8 p.m. April 17 at the Western Carolina Fair Grounds, 1566 Columbia Highway N.
Tickets are $10, and prizes include a grand prize of $5,000 or one year of St. Mary's School tuition for one student to be used by 2021.
There will also be a second-place prize of $1,500, and a third-place prize of $500.
The winner does not need to be present to win. The entire event will be held from 7 to 11 p.m. that night. All proceeds from the raffle and the event will benefit St. Mary Help of Christians Catholic School. Money raised helps offset tuition costs and other school expenditures.
"We used to conduct a raffle every year as part of the Chocolate Festival," Kayie Craney, event co-chairwoman. "The raffle ended in 2006 when we were informed that it was no longer legal. Now that raffles are legal for nonprofit fundraising, we are excited to see how much we are able to raise at this year's event."
The raffle law was amended in March after 83 percent of voters approved the amendment in November. Nonprofit organizations that are not registered with the South Carolina Secretary of State can still hold a raffle, but it has to be for a noncash prize of less than $500.
Tickets for the St. Mary's raffle can be purchased at the school office or by emailing smhocptoevents1@gmail.com.
Tickets for the entire event are $45 each or $80 per couple and can be purchased at Material Things, 752 Silver Bluff Road; Threads, 108 Laurens St. S.W.; or by calling St. Mary's School at 803-649-2071.
Derrek Asberry is the SRS beat reporter for the Aiken Standard and has been with the paper since June 2013. He is originally from Vidalia, Ga., and a graduate of Georgia Southern University. Follow him on Twitter @DerrekAsberry.