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Raffles Support Programs
Every year Friendship Ventures raffles two special items – a handmade quilt and a week at Gunflint Lodge. Throughout the year supporters purchase raffle tickets to help those we serve and have a chance to win. Winners were chosen for these two raffles at the Friendship Ventures Auxiliary holiday party in December.
For many years the Kerfoot family, owners of Gunflint Lodge north of Grand Marais, have donated a vacation package for a raffle. This package is for five days and four nights for four at the beautiful lodge near Grand Marais, Minnesota. The prize package includes a two-bedroom cabin with fireplace and sauna, nature activities, boat and motor. This package, valued at more than $2,000, gives the winner a chance to experience the season of choice at this memorable resort.
Patty Van Dorp, whose family owns the In Hot Water Coffee Shop in Annandale, won the Gunflint Lodge package and will be enjoying a Northern Minnesota vacation.
The quilt, a queen-size pieced pattern, was hand quilted and donated by the Defiance Quilting Club of Defiance, Iowa. It had been on display in the Camp Friendship dining hall during the past year so groups staying on site could purchase a chance to win. The winner, Laureen Hess from Maple Grove, Minnesota, was one such visitor to Camp Friendship.
The Defiance Quilting Club is a group of seven women who attend Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Defiance, a town in southwest Iowa. They meet every Wednesday to work on quilts. The group has been quilting together for 20 years, and they have made six quilts for the Friendship Ventures raffle. With a distance of 365 miles between Defiance and Camp Friendship, only one member of the quilting club has seen Camp Friendship. Nonetheless, the group continues their support, contributing their skills to help those Friendship Ventures serves.
Another quilt is on display already at Camp Friendship for the raffle later this year, and the group is beginning to work on a quilt for next year.
These two raffles raised thousands of dollars to support scholarships for needy individuals participating in Friendship Ventures summer and winter camp and weekend respite care services. Congratulations to the winners. Thanks to all who purchased tickets, and thanks to the donors of the raffle items.
Friendship Ventures is a non-profit agency that creates unique educational, recreational and social opportunities for people of all ages with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities. We also offer conference and retreat services and professional team-building programs to the communities we serve. Friendship Ventures operates Camp Friendship near Annandale, MN and Eden Wood Center in Eden Prairie, MN.