All smiles
Jacky’s Face Painting was present at St. Mary’s annual barbecue picnic to paint the faces of eager children like Khiri Tibben, 2, who was excited to be a blue T. rex. O’Donohue photos
CHESTERVILLE – On Sun., June 23, St. Mary of the Presentation Church in Chesterville held their annual picnic barbecue following the morning’s Mass. The weather cooperated and it was a beautiful sunny day to celebrate. There was an abundant barbecue lunch, face painting and a dunk tank to entertain guests.
Raffle organizer Louis Larabie (left) takes a winning ticket from Father Charles while Wayne Moore, also involved in the raffle organization, looks on.
The barbecue had a wonderful turnout and was capped off by their fundraising draw. Tickets for the fundraising draw went on sale just before Christmas in 2018, with the grand prize being a 60 HP, 4-stroke outboard motor fishing boat with trailer and fishing package valued at $32,000. Parishioner Debbie Courneyea advised that the funds raised from the raffle will go toward repairs on the church that is “well over 100 years old” and alleviate some of the financial pressure from church members as attendance is not what it once was.
A total of 1995 raffle tickets were sold, at a cost of $20 each. Church organist and parish council member, Mike Ouellette advised that the boat was purchased by the church at cost, and this allowed it to be a good fundraising venture for the church. Ouellette stressed that the primary person to thank for the success of the raffle was Louis Larabie, noting “this would not have happened without Louis.” Larabie is the sacristan and custodian at the church and was responsible for securing the boat at cost; additionally, he dedicated much of his spare time to selling tickets for the raffle. Right before the draw, as he was thanking fellow parish members, and corporate partners, Larabie thanked his wife “for her great support, help and patience,” while he spent his weekends selling tickets to support the church through this fundraiser.
Five prizes were raffled off; and Father Charles picked the winning tickets. The top three prize winners were: first prize (fishing boat) Jean Luc Blais, second prize (a $3,000 gift card to Canadian Tire) Clayton Miller and third prize ($1,000) Stan Zurawski.
Following the draws, Father Charles thanked the parish members responsible for organizing the fundraiser, as well as those who bought tickets, “thank you so much for making today a beautiful day.”
