Dale Snyder, Guy Johnson, and Magdeline Aagard
 
Many people are celebrating the success of Uptown Rotary's annual fundraiser which raised nearly $14,000 this year.
 
The Club's annual fundraiser transitioned from an in-person Gala with a silent auction (which began in 2009) to a virtual Gala with a raffle last year. Among those celebrating are the organizations that will benefit: The Joyce Uptown Food Shelf, Jefferson Community School, Haiti Outreach, Every Meal (formerly Sheridan Story), and Ready, Set, Smile.
 
Also celebrating are owners of the 12 winning tickets that were drawn from the 563 sold. For example, the winner of the Grand Prize (a week-long vacation at a resort in Breezy Point, MN donated by Kraus Anderson) responded, "I am still in shock! The amazing news that I won the grand prize for the Uptown Rotary Benefit For Children hasn't quite sunk in. I am stunned and delighted!"
 
And the winner of the Twins Trifecta wrote, "I am so excited. My son and husband are huge Twins fans. I think I may finally be able to entice my son to come home from CA!"
 
Winners of the other prize packages are also smiling: $420 worth of growlers at 13 Twin City breweries, a North Shore State Park tour, a Family Farm tour, three 90-minute massages at Function Massage and Acupuncture in St. Louis Park, VIP tickets to the MN Landscape Arboretum, and two sets of Maui Jim sunglasses.
 
Perhaps the biggest smiles are on the faces of the Fundraising team including Magdeline Aagard, Dale Snyder, and Guy Johnson (the gala hosts), Andrew Ramirez (our virtual gala guy), Adam McIntyre-Barn (our technical guru), and Bill Blackburn (our social media wizard).
 
If you missed this year's festivities, there is still time to join the celebration by supporting the above organizations with a tax-deductible contribution to the Minneapolis Uptown Rotary Service Foundation: