The area’s most extreme raffle will return to the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds to benefit the Faith Home Adult Teen Challenge program.
On Oct. 26, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s air support helicopter will be dropping thousands of golf balls onto a target in the 5th annual Ball Drop for Hope event.
Unlike other nonprofit fundraisers where raffle tickets are sold and then winners are picked out of a bucket, donors pay $25 for each golf ball and winners are chosen based on how close to the bullseye their balls land after being dropped from the helicopter hovering 100 feet over the target.
“We did it for COVID,” said Faith Home volunteer Brad Hansen about how the event got its start.
When all the normal fundraising events were cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, Faith Home graduate Lewie Roche came up with the idea of the minimal-contact fundraiser of the ball drop.
“We started with just a small group of about 50 people and hoped to raise $20,000 and we ended up getting $60,000,” said Hansen. “It kept growing and growing. The doors from the community keep opening. This community has been so generous. It’s been so heartwarming.”
The Ball Drop of Hope has raised over $300,000 in the previous four years and has already garnered $82,000 in sponsorships so far this year.
This year, the prizes will all be gift certificates to local shops and eateries. Hansen said local businesses including Village Fresh, LaMo, Get Air trampoline park and The Greenery donated prizes. There will be over $4,000 in prizes total, including $1,000 in groceries from Village Fresh. The grand prize is a certificate for a two-hour ride for two adults in the Sheriff’s air support helicopter.
Every ball that lands in the target bullseye will be gathered up by official judges from Wahl Willemse & Wilson CPAs and the Stanislaus Sheriff Chaplain. The judges will then select 25 winning balls. The first 10 balls will win a $250 gift certificate from a local Turlock business. The next ball will win a $500 gift card. The next ball will win a $1,000 gift card. The last ball will win the grand prize.
“Our expenses continue to drop to almost nothing, so it all gets to go to Teen Challenge,” said Hansen.
Faith Home Adult Teen Challenge is a 12-16 month residential program in a structured environment with a mission to help restore individuals and families with life-threatening addictions. The program has a 70 percent success rate, according to Hansen. Along with the ranch in rural Ceres, Teen Challenge has a treatment facility in Turlock.
Faith Home is partnering with addiction counseling program Prodigal Sons & Daughters this year. The downtown Turlock nonprofit will get to keep all the donations they bring in for golf balls that they sell.
The Ball Drop for Hope event is free to attend. It will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 26 at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds. The actual ball drop is set to start at 12 noon. There will be members of local law enforcement on hand, as well as food and beverages.
Balls can be purchased at LaMo Café, 310 E. Main St.; Village Fresh Market, 2090 E. Canal Dr.; Turlock Certified Farmers Market, on Main Street between Center and Thor streets every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Prodigal Sons & Daughters, 352 E. Olive Ave.; or by calling (209) 537-0606.
