On Sept. 21-25, Plano West Rotary Club (PWRC) was able to hold its first funnel-cake fundraiser at the Plano Balloon Festival in several years, and it was a sweet success!
Funnel-cake sales is the club’s largest fundraiser, and PWRC has been doing it since 1991. At this year’s Balloon Fest, the club ran two booths making and selling fresh funnel cakes, as well as selling bottled water and coffee. Rotarian Mike Walker was the lead organizer of this fundraiser, and has been since 2012. Fred Bemenderfer and Glen Thornton were also key players in setting the project up for success. In addition to making sure supplies and equipment are purchased in the weeks before the event, these club members spent many hours setting up and cooking over hot oil during the four-day celebration.
For newer club members, this was their first taste of the fundraiser, other than a small run making and selling funnel cakes this spring at the Texas Forever Fest. And it was all hands on deck for this event! A total of 180 volunteer slots were filled from Thursday through Sunday, and a grand total of 560 volunteer hours were served, with many Rotarians showing up to help at multiple shifts. Rotarians who served included Joy Hinkelman, Jo’anna Snowden, Glen Thornton, John Stafford, Jennifer Shertzer, Pieter Niehaus, Mollie Hancock, Katherine Goodwin, Irvin Barrett, Lisa Leach, Patrick Pope, Tom Posey, Brett Moore, Fred Thomas, Tamara Thomas, David Evans, Michelle Thornton, Kelley Crimmins, Tara Bidwell, Michael Casavant, Benton Hall, Laura Johnson, Steve Lauten and Iro Omere.
It was well worth everyone’s effort. The club sold approximately 4,000 funnel cakes, and grossed more than $36,000 from the event. This is the best year PWRC has ever had in sales! Plano West is proud to be able to invest this money directly back into the community through donations to local nonprofits that work within Rotary’s Areas of Focus. Great job, Plano West Rotary!