Bingo Night nets big bucks for PTO

With an expanded array of bingo and raffle prizes, Bingo Night netted about $3,500 for the Lincoln PTO earlier this month.

Hundreds of people packed the Brooks gym on February 1 to compete for a roster of prizes topped by an iPod Touch. The PTO sold 440 bingo cards and more than 1,500 raffle tickets. “After the initial push, two ‘floaters’ walked between tables and sold additional tickets. The crowd also devoured 65 pizzas (though the last few were sold near the end of the evening at a discount).

“Instead of the big Bingo baskets of years past, our intention this year was to provide more prizes per game and more raffle drawings, scattered throughout the evening,” said Melissa Henken, the PTO’s Annual Giving and Membership Captain. “I think by doing this, we created more excitement, and hopefully sent more kids home happy.We also threw Lincoln Spirit Wear into the audience during the raffle drawings, which created an excitement all its own.”

Other raffle prizes included a week of camp at Summer Fenn, lessons and rentals from the Weston Ski Track, and lift tickets for Nashoba Valley Ski Area. There were also  games such as Mr. Potato Head, Scrabble and Legos, and gift cards from many stories including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, Target, and iTunes. Almost 100 game and raffle prizes were donated by K-5 classes, while grades 6-8 donated toward the iPod Touch.

Proceeds from events like this help provide enrichment programs at the Lincoln School that are not funded by the school.

Principal Steve McKenna reads a number from one of the ping-pong balls pulled from a spinning wire basket. Two boys fill out their bingo cards. John Silva proudly displays his bingo prize.

Students hope to catch some Lincoln Spirit Wear that was periodically tossed into the crowd. McKenna reaches in the bowl of raffle tickets for the final prize, an iPod Touch.