Forbes Trail Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU) recently presented a $600 check to the Westmoreland Food Bank to help those in local communities in need of food. Through its annual, fall meat raffle, TU gave away eight $250 gift cards for Bardines Smokehouse in Crabtree. TU members sold over 800 raffle tickets at $10 each to friends and family members throughout Westmoreland County. The eight winning numbers were drawn on November 17^th and the gift cards were delivered shortly thereafter. TU donated 10% of the raffle profits to the Food Bank.

“We are grateful to Forbes Trail Chapter of Trout Unlimited for their true act of selfless giving,” said Jennifer Miller, CEO of the Westmoreland Food Bank. “If it were not for the community and their generosity, we would not be able to do what we do best and that is feed people and nourish lives.”

“This is an easy way for our chapter to raise unrestricted funds for community, school and local stream projects” noted Larry Myers, Chapter President. “It’s an opportunity for all of our 600 members to get involved in fundraising with minimal effort.” This is the second year that Forbes Trail partnered with Bardines and the Food Bank on the meat raffle. We gave away one gift card for every 100 tickets sold, which are really good odds. “Knowing that each ticket purchased helps those in need of food makes the selling very easy.” said Myers. “There are many families in our communities who could use a helping hand, and the raffle is a simple means for us to provide that support.”

The drawing for this year’s FTTU fund-raising raffle was held this evening at the PA Fly Co fly shop on Route 31 in Acme PA.
With some last minute entries, we sold a total of 841 tickets, 324 more than last year! That means we drew 8 winning numbers.

And the winning numbers are…

4009
4847
2726
3247
1224
3385
3673
4389

If you possess one of the winning tickets, you should have already been contacted. Check your voice mail!
The winners will receive one $250.00 Bardine’s gift certificate each.

The drawing was held live on Facebook. Here’s a link to the video. Raffle Drawing.

This year’s raffle was a huge success. FTTU would like to thank all of you for purchasing and selling tickets.

With the drawing to be held Wednesday, November 17, we are at 773 tickets sold, 256 more than last year’s total of 517. This means that we will draw for seven $250 Bardine’s Gift Certificate prizes!
Catch the drawing live on our Facebook page on Wednesday at 6:00 pm, winners will be notified immediately after the drawing.

FTTU would like to thank members and friends who bought or sold tickets this year making our Autumn Special Meat Raffle a huge success.

Raffle ticket sales are still brisk with a few more days to the deadline. As of November 9, we are at 616 tickets sold, almost 100 tickets better than last year’s total of 517. If you haven’t sent in your tickets, do so now, the deadline is Friday, November 12, 2021. You can also purchase tickets at Bardine’s Smokehouse. We will draw for one $250 Bardine’s Smokehouse gift certificate prize for each 100 tickets sold. That means we will be awarding at least 6 prizes this year!

In addition, 10% of our profits will be donated to the Westmoreland Food Bank helping those less fortunate here in our local area.

A huge THANK YOU to all who have purchased and/or sold tickets. Many members are buying/selling all 10 tickets included in the mailing!

This is the chapter’s only fundraising activity for the year. A chance for us to raise unrestricted funds for use wherever the needs may be. From everyday chapter business such as insurance, postage and newsletter costs to filling in the gaps not covered by grants for our many projects – Linn Run Conservation Plan, Rock Run restoration, Veterans Service, Education and more.

Members should check their mailboxes for this year’s raffle fundraiser mailing which went out recently. This is the only fundraising activity of the year for our chapter. Unlike grants we apply for that restrict their funds to be used for specific purposes, we need to raise unrestricted funds to keep the chapter running. Each year we incur normal operating expenses such as insurance, postage, meeting expenses, P.O. box rental etc. We also need to keep in touch with members through our newsletter and website, and we send out welcome package mailings to new members, it all adds up. This year we footed the bill for food at the Veterans Fishing Day and supplied rods and tackle for loan and door prizes for the vets. We’d like to do more and you can help by buying/selling raffle tickets. It’s a great deal, the prizes are $250 gift cards for Bardine’s Country Smokehouse just in time for the holidays. Tickets are $10 each and we will draw a $250 gift card prize for every 100 tickets sold. Those are good odds! Last year we gave out 5 cards. In addition, we will donate 10% of our profits to the Westmoreland Food Bank to help those less fortunate here in our home area.

Here’s what’s included the envelope you will receive: two strips of 5 raffle tickets, a letter explaining the raffle, and a pre-addressed return envelope.

• You do not need to be a member to purchase raffle tickets.
• Put the purchaser’s name and phone number on each ticket sold.
• Send the top half of the ticket with the name and phone number to us and keep the bottom half.
• Return the sold ticket stubs along with a check for $10/ticket made out to Forbes Trail TU in the envelope provided.
• If the envelope is lost, our address is FTTU, P.O. Box 370, Youngstown, PA 15696.
• Discard any unsold tickets. No need to send them back.
• Tickets must be received by Friday, November 12, 2021.
• The drawing will be held on Wednesday, November 17, 2021 live on FTTU’s Facebook page.
• Winners will be called immediately after the drawing and winning numbers will be posted here on forbestrailtu.org.

FTTU is now a registered charity with Amazon Smile. You can help support FTTU when you shop at Amazon by selecting us as your charity in smile.amazon.com, here’s how.

• Enter smile.amazon.com in your browser (you must start here, not at amazon.com)
• Sign in to your account
• Click “Get Started”
• Search for Forbes Trail Trout Unlimited in the Search field
• Select “Trout Unlimited – Forbes Trail Chapter 206”
• Shop and check out normally
• You should see, in the upper left of your browser, the Amazon Smile logo and “Supporting Forbes Trail Trout Unlimited”

.5% of your purchase will be donated to FTTU
Of course, we recommend supporting local businesses and fishing shops first, but if you will be shopping at amazon.com, do so through smile.amazon.com and remember to select Forbes Trail Trout Unlimited as your charity.

Our Holiday Special – Bardines Gift Certificate raffle wrapped up tonight, Tuesday, December 22, 2020. Over 500 tickets were sold and so we were able to award five $250 Bardines gift certificates. The drawing was held at 6pm at the Bear Rocks Community Center near Acme, PA. And the winning numbers are…

0226
0988
1289
1011
2432

The winners were notified by phone and the gift certificates will be sent out in the next couple of days.

The chapter did very well with this fund raiser thanks to an outstanding response from our membership. Thanks to your generosity, we were able to raise about $3,500 and we were able to make a $350 donation to the Westmoreland County Food Bank.

Thanks to all who participated. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Members may have already received a packet of raffle tickets in the mail from FTTU. Tickets are $10 each and the prize is a $250 gift certificate for Bardine’s Smokehouse www.bardinemeats.com. Bardine’s is one of the most popular places in our area for fine meat products. For every 100 tickets sold, we will give away one $250 gift certificate. So, if we sell 300 tickets, there will be three gift certificate prizes awarded. Proceeds benefit the chapter’s general fund. Even though our programs have all but ground to a halt in 2020, we are optimistic about resuming activities in 2021 including expanding our conservation work in the Linn Run watershed. Additionally, recognizing that 2020 has been a challenging year and this year’s holiday season will be a difficult one for those less fortunate, FTTU will donate 10% of the profits to the Westmoreland County Food Bank.

Please consider purchasing a ticket and sell a few to your friends and relatives. Fill out the top half with the buyer’s name and telephone number. Send that half in with a check made out to “Forbes Trail TU” in the pre-addressed envelope. Don’t forget to add a stamp. The drawings will be held at 6:00 pm, Tuesday, December 22, 2020 at the Bear Rocks Community Club. We cannot have a crowd at the club so instead you can watch the drawing live on the FTTU Facebook page. Winners will be notified and the winning numbers will be posted here in the FTTU News Blog.

Good luck and thank you!