While winners of prizes valued at about $1200 would have received pleasant surprise phone calls, the Yarragon community will again be the big winner from the Christmas raffle by the town's Lions Club.
About $6500 was raised from the raffle drawn at the club's op shop in Yarragon just prior to Christmas.
The 35 members of Yarragon's Lions Club had been selling tickets since October and didn't get too many knockbacks from the public, be they locals or people travelling through.
The prizes were a $500 gift voucher for hardware, a three-day holiday at Merimbula and six $50 vouchers to be spent at Yarragon shops.
Money raised through the op shop, opened by the club opened in May 2019, has already made a big difference to many community groups in Yarragon, despite the impact on trading by COVID.
President Bill Cropley said its profits had already ticked past the $200,000 mark.
Recent significant contributions had been $20,000 to the Yarragon Bowls Club to go towards the cost of a synthetic green and $10,000 to help with restoration of Yarragon's Catholic Church.
Mr Cropley said public support for the shop had been fantastic as had been the efforts of the many volunteers that staff it.
Snapshot of the past
In January 1966, Warragul’s ornate old brick post office came tumbling down to make way for a new brick office. The photograph shows the first stages of demolition as the roof was removed from the old Warragul Post Office. The wreckers – Harris...