CULLMAN – On Thursday night in the John G. Cullmann Room in Cullman Regional Medical Center, Hospice of Cullman County held its annual MEGA Cash Draw Down event, the nonprofit’s largest yearly fundraiser.
“This is the biggest single event, yes,” said Randy Weathersby, chairman of the draw down. “They have other smaller events throughout the year, but this is the biggest one fundraiser of the year.”
The event is a dinner, tickets to which cost $100 each. Each ticket is entered into a drawing, and the winner takes home a prize. Other door prizes are also handed out. Additionally, there is a set of auction items that attendees bid on.
The event is held at Cullman Regional, which, according to at least one man in attendance, makes a difference.
“Honestly, the fact that they have it here, and this is a nice room and place, don’t get me wrong, really proves that this is the heart of the event, and you really get a feel that you’re making a difference by participating,” said local man Mitch Hunter. “I’ve been coming for the past couple of years, and it’s really just a great time, too.”
The familial atmosphere of the event is a byproduct of the community effort that goes into making the drawn down happen each year.
“Really, the majority of the credit for this event goes to the community,” said Chairman of the Board of Hospice of Cullman County, Judy Butler Patterson. “We have several businesses as well who help support us.”
The winners of the event’s drawing were Nell Dunlap and Riley Yeager.
“It came down to two tickets to be drawn, and we chose to split it, which was about $4,250 each” said Dunlap. “And hospice got the rest.”
‘The rest’ equaled out to about $1,500, along with the other donations, auction monies and ticket sales.
Dunlap, who also serves as the vice-chair of the hospice board, said that the hospice is in need of volunteers.
“We need volunteers, for instance, to relieve people who are at home taking care of their loved ones, or to let them have a break to go to the store, or to get a list and go to the store for them,” Dunlap said. “Volunteers are something we need. We have a large county, and we cover some of Marshall county and some others too, that are very remote. If we had volunteers to help with that that would be good too.”
Dunlap said that the volunteer shortage is perfect for student-led volunteer efforts of local area schools. In order to set up a correspondence and find out more information about how to do that, contact Hospice of Cullman County at 256-739-5185.
