Crazy Cash Night lives up to its name again!

Three winners shared the $6,000 jackpot at the end of the evening.

For the 19th year, Manchester’s high rollers were enjoying food, beverages, friends, and FUN at the Kiwanis Crazy Cash Night last Saturday evening.

Assisted this year by the Manchester Community Schools Foundation and the Lions Club, the Kiwanis’ annual event was, as usual, filled with ample amounts of cash and a bit of craziness, too.

Plenty of cash and an abundance of prizes were up for grabs as the evening began. There was excitement and laughter in the air as early arrivals started lining up shortly after 5 pm to purchase tickets for the sideboard prizes and 50/50 raffles. With 198 tickets sold well in advance, the Legacy Event Center was crowded one last time with people eager to party for a good cause. Due to anticipated renovations at that location, the building will no longer be able to accommodate such a large event.

“We had about 400 people there in all, including volunteers,” said Pat Vailliencourt, who was spending her 19th year as chair of the popular event. “We had phenomenal help from our volunteers, especially with set up and clean up. The recipient groups were terrific, and the football team was also a great help. This could not have happened without this level of volunteerism.”

The “good cause” is an important part of the Crazy Cash mission, Vailliencourt added.

“The beauty of this is, we take all these applications, for whatever it is the community needs,” she said. “We designed it from the beginning to involve the entire community.”

And over the past 19 years, the Kiwanis have donated back an incredible amount of Crazy Cash–more than $300,000–to help other Manchester volunteers and organizations.

This year’s recipients, who were also volunteering to help out with details of the event, included Diuble Family Vision, the Manchester Area Historical Society, Manchester Area Senior Citizens, Inc., Boy Scouts, the Community Resource Center, the Manchester Early Childhood Center, the Robotics Team, and the Lions Club. The causes went from promotional materials for the seniors, camping equipment for the scouts, vision screening supplies and funding to the Lions Club, a cart for food donations at the CRC, bed-shaking alarms for hearing impaired kids by Diuble Family Vision, furnishings for the MECC infant and toddler rooms, and spare parts for the Robotics Team. A historic clock for the corner of Main Street and M-52 will be funded for the Historical Society, and a portion of the proceeds are always reserved for Kiwanis Scholarships given to Manchester Key Club members.

As the evening wound down, the reverse raffle numbers were counted out. With 9 numbers remaining, ticket #199 was auctioned off to Tom Ash, giving him a one-in-ten chance of winning the big prize. And with four numbers left, Bryan Fountain purchased the final ticket, #200, giving him a one-in-five opportunity to come out as the big winner. At this point, the top two prizes–$1,000 and $5,000–were at stake and could go down to the last two tickets or be split among the five finalists,  including Betsy Finn, Cindy Clark, Sarah Roberts, Ash, and Fountain. Asked to make a “Deal or No Deal” choice to split the jackpot five ways, the group said no. Four ways? Still No Deal.

In the end, the final $6,000 jackpot was split by the last three ticket-holders left standing: Ash, Fountain, and Roberts, who each took home $2,000 as their souvenir of the night’s entertainment.

The fun drew to a close right around 10 pm, but the memories of this Crazy Cash Night, as well as the 18 that preceded it, will live on. It remains to be seen, whether another venue will be found to continue this popular event in the future.

“I had so many people come up to me this year, and say how much they enjoyed and appreciated this event, and they hope it can continue on,” Vailliencourt said. “We don’t want to move it out of Manchester–that would definitely be a last resort–but if we cannot find a venue for that size of a crowd, we may not have another option.

“Our other challenge is volunteers,” she added. “Even with the help of the MSCF and Lions, the bulk of the planning has fallen on a handful of Kiwanis members; who are aging and fewer in number, “a plight shared bymost volunteer groups in the community. “It’s very difficult to be able to continue to do it under these circumstances. The enthusiasm for the event is there–it definitely hasn’t burned itself out; but we need new members for Kiwanis, or whoever will be the main sponsor of the event in the future, if we want to continue this level of success.”

The lesson of the evening? Get involved!

Dr. Dana Andrews calls the ticket numbers as the countdown begins.

Sideboard ticket sales were popular.

Tickets, tickets, and more tickets! Part of the “Crazy” in Crazy Cash Night.

Emcee Pat Vailliencourt

The Legacy Event building was filled with high rollers on Saturday night.

Verifying tickets for winners

A long line waited to get into the hall.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.