Wash. resident wins Po‘ipu vacation

Members of the Rotary Club of Poipu Beach completed their latest fund-raiser yesterday with a drawing for a luxury vacation for two to Po‘ipu, they said in a press release.

Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste picked the lucky winning ticket stub out of a barrel holding hundreds of stubs purchased by people all over the country, at the club meeting at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa.

The winner is Robin Maylor of University Place, Wash., a suburb of Tacoma. Maylor and whomever she chooses to accompany her will receive round-trip airfare from anyplace in the United States, seven nights at the Grand Hyatt in Poipu Beach, a rental car for a week and $1,500 in meals, golf, tours and cruises.

“This is the first time the club has attempted this type of fund-raiser. The goal was for all proceeds to be used to provide scholarships for Kaua‘i students,” says Jim Geddes, project director.

“We are used to having visitors from Mainland Rotary clubs come to our club. Since so many people want to visit Kaua‘i, we thought that a trip raffle might work as a fund-raiser,” Geddes said.

“We began with a big ad in The Rotarian magazine. Hundreds of thousands of people saw that ad.” Club members then broadcast- advertised with their e-mail lists, and the club’s Webmaster arranged for tickets to be bought on line at the club’s Web site, www.poipurotary.

org.

“We then began receiving requests from several Rotary clubs on the Mainland asking for advice on how to run similar fund-raisers. We’re claiming it’s a proprietary secret, but anybody can do it,” says Geddes.

“We’ll be able to provide at least $7,500 in scholarships for Kaua‘i kids from this first attempt. The plan is to make the raffle an annual event, and greatly expand our advertising to the Mainland, with special focus on California, Oregon and Washington Rotary clubs,” Geddes said.

For more information on Rotary Club of Poipu Beach scholarship programs, contact Jim Case at 335-5266.