The Oregon lottery draws names and invites different schools to their big scratch off event. Our Family School was invited. One teacher and one parent are paired with two local radio personalities to scratch off as many tickets in five minutes time. Our school gets to keep whatever we win.
Teacher Peggy and I arrived at Valley River Mall, to find a fairly large media event, hot coffee and cinnabuns, and tables set up for each team. Our celebrity team mates were no were to be seen, but we settled in to read instructions and plot quickly on strategy.
Our school, like all others in the nation is underfunded. I'm currently part of the largest fundraiser of the school year, and we plan to take in $3000-$4000. It takes months of preparation, and lots of volunteer hours to make this happen. Yet in five minutes, our scratch team might make a thousand dollars, if we are lucky? A big opportunity.
We were ready to kick #%%! We stretched and limbered up and wondered where our team mates were. All around the room, four people were at each table, ready to go, reading instructions looking at the their scratch off survival guides. This is serious business! Luckily, we had the BEST lotto team captain. He's the coach, and helps count the tickets at the end.
Each participant is given a card scratching tool that resembles an ice scraper. Technique is key because you have to remove enough of the latex gum to reveal the numbers, and clear as many tickets as you can in the allotted time, but not tear them! Everyone kept warning us that it was more physical than imagined.
Ready?
No, our team mates weren't in yet.....
Set?
Wait......
And in walk two young radio jockeys, one looking very sleepy, but at least they are more muscly than anyone else in the room! Turns out they both have tons of experience at this event and were ready to rock!
Go!!!!
We stood at the tables scratching the heck out of reams of cards for five minutes. When our scrapers got gummed up, we flung them and our coach replaced them. He was a great guide, and encouraged us to claw our way to the finish line. When the whistle blew, we noticed that our table had moved forward three feet! LOL!
Not to be competitive, but we easily scratched more than anyone in the room. Our team rocked it. Then for the counting...............
Alysse and Peggy earning our Cinnabuns!
It took 1 1/2 hours to count all the tickets we scratched in five minutes! We threw the bad tickets on the floor, and at the end we recounted those ,finding an additional $80~
The highest number on the ticket was $500, and lowest was $1.
Our Oregon Lottery coach! He rocked. There's the tally! $1,715 for our school in one morning's work. We were thrilled. Only one team earned more than us (again with the competitiveness) and they happened to get two big number tickets in their share.
It was funny to see the radio and local news folks competing. They do this all the time, so like to earn bragging rights and such.
Peggy and I were presented with a temporary check, which I posted in the entry way for all to see.
What a fun morning, and unusual activity. I think I've had my fill of lottery tickets now. Seriously. Though I'd do this again for our school in a heartbeat. (And yes, you do get a little sore the next day! I was surprised.)
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