The “2 Ways 2 Win” raffle drawing held on Tuesday, Oct. 21 for the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy in Greene and Putnam counties was quite a celebration and a victory for everyone. The members of these two Community Action Teams (CATs) had set a goal of having 500 children adopted in this campaign. Thanks to the generous support of the citizens in both counties, they were able to exceed their goal; 560 readers were adopted.

“We are so appreciative that we have the funds in place to cover the cost of the books each month for the next year for 560 children in our two counties,” said Putnam CAT Chairperson Cathy Mize. “We have approximately 1200 children registered between the two counties and hope to continue to register more. We can now do so with confidence after such a successful fundraising campaign.”

Diana O’Keefe, Chairperson of the Greene County CAT, echoed Mize’s thanks and went a step further. She added, “In addition to our supporters who adopted readers, we also want to send out the highest praise to those who provided us with the fabulous prizes for this fundraiser: Aurum’s Jewelry, Zeb Grant, Kevin O’Sullivan, and Z. Grant Designs. The CAT members are also grateful to the owners and staff of Blu Culina for allowing us to hold our drawing at their restaurant and for the gracious manner in which they served all of our patrons that evening.”

To register a child under the age of five to receive free books each month through the mail or to learn more about the organization, go to www.ferstfoundation.org.