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Las Vegas Night nets $30,000
The Rotary Club of Saipan raised $30,000 in this year’s edition of the Las Vegas Night fundraiser, which is a little less than the previous year.
Still, the Rotary Club was still able to hit its revenue goal, according to Rotary Club Saipan president Marcia Ayuyu.
Las Vegas Night was held last weekend at the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan.
Ayuyu said this year’s grand prize winner, Eduardo Pelagio, opted for the 2020 Mirage G4 sedan instead of the $10,000 cash prize. That lowered the amount raised after expenses to slightly lower that the net $34,000 they made the previous year, she added.
“Our net was $30,000. It’s a little smaller than we made last year because the winner got the car. If he didn’t get the car, it would have been the same as last year, about $34,000,” she said.
Ayuyu explained that $13,000 from the funds raised through ticket sales went to the purchase of the vehicle.
“Triple J helped us by lowering the price of the car but Rotary shoulders the purchase of the car from the ticket sales. The car was $13,000, the actual price of the car is over $20,000. If the winner did not choose the car, then we would have given away $10,000,” she said.
Excluding the purchase of the vehicle and other expenses, Ayuyu reports that Las Vegas Night fundraiser raked in $50,000.
“I want to say thank you to all the volunteers, from IPI, from McDonald’s, from Ernst & Young, from Bank of Saipan, I just want to thank them for all their help. I know they dedicated their time for us so I really want to thank them. We appreciate what they did,” she said.
According to Saipan Tribune archives, proceeds from Las Vegas Night usually funds the Rotary Club’s community projects, which include providing meals to the elderly, donating dictionaries to schools, maintaining school bus shelters, putting up welcome signs for tourists at the airport, and more.
The Rotary will also use a portion of the money to build a playground for children with disabilities on the island.
