A Morehead man has won the “Queen of Hearts” Raffle sponsored by the Morehead Optimist Club as part of their Cave Run Bingo gaming activities. Friday the 13th was a lucky night for Evan White who picked card #49 and found the “Queen of Hearts” underneath which was worth a jackpot of $14,311. Evan took home a check for $10,017 (70% of the total). The other 30%, rounded to $4,000, was presented as a donation to the Rowan County Senior High School Theater Department. The funds will be used to support the Department in their upcoming productions. Teacher/Sponsor Kayla Stafford and a group of rising stars in the Theater Program accepted the check Optimist Club weekly lunch meeting at Mr. Gatti’s in Morehead on Tuesday. Following acceptance of the check, the students performed musical selections from their upcoming talent showcase to be held later this week.
The “Queen of Hearts” is a progressive raffle using a deck of cards laminated facedown on a board and numbered. Players purchase a chance for $1 during bingo sessions and at the end of the night, one ticket is drawn and that individual picks a card, trying to find the Queen. If the Queen is not found, the jackpot rolls over to the next night and continues until someone finds the card. The lucky winner receives 70% of the total jackpot and the Optimist Club donates 30% to a predetermined group, this time the RCSHS Theater Program. The Optimist Club routinely supports the arts at Rowan County Senior High School, and this was just another opportunity to do so.
The Morehead Optimist Club was established in 1964 and focuses primarily on activities for the youth of Morehead and Rowan County. They operate Cave Run Bingo in Farmers, KY to fund a variety of youth programs and for the last several years have donated more than $175,000 annually to various programs. “We have been very blessed to be able to fund youth programs at the level we have,” said Club President Bill Redwine. “The COVID-19 shutdown impacted our revenues quite significantly, for a period but we are now back up and running almost to pre COVID levels,” Redwine added.
Cave Run Bingo is located at 6950 US 60 West in Farmers, Kentucky and is open every Friday and Saturday night. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. and bingo begins at 7:00. The facility is a non-smoking/vaping facility with smoke breaks included in the schedule each night.
For more information about the Optimist Club, please contact President Bill Redwine at (606)356-0666 or by email at moreheadoptimistclub@gmail.com. Weekly meetings are held during the lunch hour every Tuesday at Mr. Gatti’s in Morehead.
