This website is dedicated exclusively to a fund raising effort for the benefit of two Cystic Fibrosis children in our Old Order Amish community. The intent is to generate funds through the raffle ticket sales of two quilts to help off-set mounting medical bills associated with the treatment of this chronic illness. Cystic Fibrosis is a life-threatening, congenital disease that effects the lungs. There is no cure, and treatment to suppress the advance of the disease is on-going across a patient's life time. Funds generated by this raffle will be donated directly to Vanderbilt Children's' Hospital to be applied against outstanding bills. All goods and services associated with the benefit quilts have been entirely donated by members of our Amish Community. The tops are brand new, purchased in 2008 specifically for this benefit effort.
Two
quilts are featured here for your consideration--two quilts, one for each of our
two families. Take a look at both of the quilts, they are both stunning, but
decidedly different. (Double click on the photos to see an enlargement
and read the descriptive paragraph.) One is Traditional
Old Order Amish, the other is more 'modern'. A brief description follows each
quilt photograph. A pan-over of the photograph with your cursor will produce
an enlargement of the hand quilting detail. Each quilt has it's own Raffle
ticket specific to only that quilt. The Ticket is printable. Just print the
ticket associated with the quilt you like, or both of them. Fill out your
contact information in the blanks provided, and send to the address on the
ticket with your check or money order.
Please note: We are not a charity registered with the IRS, just a group of caring friends, family, and neighbors hoping to help two Amish families struggling under daunting medical bills incurred in an effort to keep their children alive and healthy.
Raffle Tickets are $50.00 each, and are limited to 100 sold for each of the two quilts. So you have a very good chance of holding the winning ticket. If you are wanting to participate in the raffle, please don't put off sending your ticket and payment, 100 tickets is not a lot, and we are expecting to sell out quickly. As soon as 100 tickets are sold for either of the quilts, the raffle will end for that quilt.
If you want to purchase more than one Raffle Ticket for the SAME quilt, you will need to print a ticket for each purchase. Your check can be for the full amount of the entire purchase, but we will need a ticket for each purchase as we will have to assign numbers for the drawing.
When you mail your payment and ticket(s) to us, upon arrival, we will assign a number to each ticket, scan the ticket into an email, and email it back to you for your records. Because email can sometimes be unreliable, we are avoiding email for sending us your ticket; it must be sent by U.S. Mail . That said, if you have not received an email with your numbered Raffle Ticket within 10 days after you mailed it, contact us via email so we can begin tracking down the problem and give you an update.
Ten days after the 100th Raffle Ticket is sold for each individual quilt, the drawing will take place to determine the winner of that quilt. The winner will be notified by telephone and their name ONLY will be posted on the website under the quilt they won. The quilt will be shipped via UPS within three business days after contact has been made with the holder of the winning ticket.
You can download your raffle ticket(s) to mail to us. We are providing four formats. You can download for Microsoft Word (.doc), Adobe PDF format, Rich Text Format (RTF in name) which can be used by most word processors, or text file (txt in name) which all processors can use. Select the format you want to use from the links below and double click the link. Your browser will ask you what you want to do with the file. You could either OPEN the document and then save it, OR; save it to open later. Save places a copy on your computer. Open shows you the page, you would still need to save it to keep it. You will note the paired lines for each format, Ticket A and B.
- If you are using Microsoft Word, the first pair of links is what you need. This is an older version of Word and most newer word processors can convert it.
- The second pair is PDF format which requires a free download that from Abobe (address below). Regular computer users likely have already downloaded it. Double click and from the pair of PDF links to get the A or B ticket.
- For an RTF format, use the RTF format pair. Use word processor that opens the RTF.
- If you are working with Notepad or Simptext, download the .txt file to the desktop and then right click on a PC and select "Open With" to get a list of programs to open it.
- Quilt A (Diamond Trip) Raffle Ticket for a Microsoft Word Raffle Ticket.
- Quilt B (Bear Paw) Raffle Ticket for a Microsoft Word Raffle Ticket.
- Quilt A (Diamond Trip) Raffle Ticket for an Adobe PDF format Raffle Ticket.
- Quilt B (Bear Paw) Raffle Ticket for an Adobe PDF format Raffle Ticket.
- Quilt A (Diamond Trip) Raffle Ticket for a Rich Text Format Raffle Ticket.
- Quilt B (Bear Paw) Raffle Ticket for a Rich Text Format Raffle Ticket.
- Quilt A (Diamond Trip) Raffle Ticket for a Text format Raffle Ticket.
- Quilt B (Bear Paw) Raffle Ticket for a Text format Raffle Ticket.
Not sure what to do? Just use the first link, Microsoft Word. If it won't open properly, try the next one. You will find the document is one page long in size and easy to view and print.
Many factors influence how a document opens. The word processing programs on your computer, whether you save a file first and then open it or vice versa, the version of software, your page settings for documents, and more effect the page opening. To open a PDF document, you need software that most internet users will already have downloaded. If you have not, you can get a free copy at Adobe.com. In the event you are still having problems. Send an email telling us which quilt you are interested in, and we will email you a copy. You can cut and paste it into your word processor.
This is the internet, and it can sometimes be a scary place to do business on both sides of the transaction. We expect that those who haven't had a past association with us may have reservations about purchasing a Raffle Ticket online.
You can purchase with the utmost confidence, we have had a hand quilting business in this Amish community for nearly 10 years, live and work in the community, and enjoy a personal relationship with most all of our 155 Amish families. If we were not honest and ethical in all of our dealings, if we didn't do what we say we would, we would have lost the support and cooperation of our Amish community years ago.
As mentioned previously, we are not a recognized charity for the purpose of tax deduction, your raffle ticket purchase price is NOT tax deductible. Application for charity status through the IRS is a lengthy process, designed to acknowledge organizations whose primary function is 'fund raising'. We are not in the business of operating an on-going charity effort. When 100 tickets are sold for each of the quilts, this endeavor will end. This raffle is just an inexpensive opportunity to maybe acquire an exceptional Amish quilt while helping two struggling Amish families meet their financial obligations.
Unlike other Amish communities around the country, the Ethridge Amish do not sponsor any fund raising activities like quilt auctions or mud sales where monies generated from these events go into a pool for use by the entire community. Our Old Order Amish consider these practices as 'insurance funds'. When catastrophic health events happen, this community does what they are able in an effort to help their members. These cystic fibrosis cases are unique, not catastrophic but rather chronic, they are on-going expenses for medical treatments that are essential to keep these children healthy and alive. Each treatment costs nearly $1,000.00. The treatments are not a cure, as there is none at this time, they simply slow the progression of the disease.