Classics for a Cause with Dolf De Ceuster of the West Bend Sunrise Rotary

Fuzz Martin 0:00

Oh hello, Washington County. How is your April going? Good? A little chilly? Same. Thanks for pressing play on 15 minutes with Fuzz, a show about the positive people, organizations and events here in Washington County, Wisconsin. I am Fuzz Martin, I host the show and I appreciate you listening. This week we are showcasing a fun way for you to win a beautiful car while helping others. It's the West Bend Sunrise Rotary's Classics for a Cause car raffle. It just got underway a few weeks ago and is going on now through September Dolf de Ceuster of National Exchange Bank and Trust and the West Bend Sunrise Rotary Club joins me this week to talk about the raffle and the constants it supports. So stay tuned for 15 minutes on the Classics for a Cause car raffle with Dolf De Ceuster on 15 minutes with Fuzz.

Dolf, thanks for coming in. Let's first talk about West Bend Sunrise Rotary. So between sunrise Rotary, there's Noon Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions Club, Moose Lodge a bunch of other service organizations in the area. What is the purpose of the rotary and specifically the Sunrise Rotary?

Dolf De Ceuster 1:26

Well, Rotary has been around for over 100 years. And it's an international organization. Really, the main motto is "service above self." And that's really what we strive to do is kind of put service, community service customer service above your own net well being but make that essentially the most important piece of our mission. Again, like I said, it's international. And locally, we have two clubs in West Bend, there's the noon club, and then the sunrise club. I'm part of the Sunrise Rotary Club that meets on Tuesday mornings. And really, the biggest piece that we try to do is find a way to raise funds, and drum up support and volunteer around our community to support our community and people that are that are not as well off and other organizations that need that same kind of support. And we also have a small component of our club that donates towards international causes. A small piece of our budget goes toward international things which could be in developing countries, and so on and so forth. And then we also as members support the International Rotary Foundation on an annual basis to support what they do internationally.

Fuzz Martin 2:32

So I know that you've got a tight knit group of people that are involved with the sunrise Rotary, I've been at one of Jeff's Spirits on Main's events that he held for the Rotary in the basement. You guys did the Gingerbread House, but you guys serve as a lot of those different types of organizations and causes and different programs, right?

Dolf De Ceuster 2:48

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Jeff is one of our members, and nicely donates his space for us to allow some of our social things. And that's just a space.

Fuzz Martin 2:56

He had some bourbon I think, too

Dolf De Ceuster 2:57

He did yeah, I wasn't gonna add that. But I think that that goes with the space. But yeah, the Gingerbread Houses. One thing we've done every year, weekly. During our meetings, we all pay some fines, and we have some trivia questions we do. And essentially at the end of the year, that helps us give back money to support some of the families through the Gingerbread House. And every year, we do a social event where we wrap those gifts and get everything ready to to bring it to those families. So that one specifically was that Yeah, yep. And you guys also do I know you're heavily involved with in champion in the park, right? Yep, absolutely. We have the enchantment raffle that we do every year is a fundraiser for our clubs. Specifically, a good amount of our members are involved with Enchantment in the Park, which means our club is heavily involved with it to support those members. So yeah, you'll see a lot of Rotary members working the evenings at Enchantment helping support it with our time and financially. So yeah, we're pretty heavily involved with that. And I believe that was originally started by some Rotary members.

Fuzz Martin 3:50

Oh, that's great. That's great. And then how long have you been a member and what made you become a part of the Sunrise Rotary.

Dolf De Ceuster 3:56

I've been in, in Rotary itself for about six years. Initially, when I joined, I was actually in our Fond du Lac club also in the morning club. And it was initially because I was in the finanical market, living in West Bend, but working in Fond du Lac and it was a good way for me to start getting to know people and networking, a little bit recommendation was made by some of the the people at our bank in Fond du Lac and they said this would be a great organization for you to really dig into the community. I had, as a high schooler been able to help in some fundraising events for our children's hospital and a couple other things down in Florida. And at that point, probably wasn't smart enough to really help with fundraising, but we were mostly muscle help and really enjoyed the the mission behind that what they did, and the idea of a lot of people coming together and raising funds for something different than themselves and giving back to the community. So I was part of it back then. So I was wanted to be part of a service club in one way, shape or form. And my kids are at the age in my life is at the phase where it made sense for me to do that. So short six years ago, I joined Rotary. Four years ago I moved to the West Bend Club when when I took over the office workwise in West Bend, and I've been with the West Bend, Sunrise Rotary for four years now,

Fuzz Martin 5:08

You're also heavily involved in the West Bend area Chamber of Commerce. Yeah. And you're the vice president at National Exchange Bank and Trust, right, correct. Yep. Yep. Well, that's, that's all good. And it's funny how you just fell in to the president role at the Sunrise Rotary. Right. Sure. And then also in the chamber, right. Yeah, that happens. Right? Yeah. People asking you and it's easy to say yes. Sometimes. Yes. It's very hard to say no. I know how that goes as the president of the 911 Memorial and the vice president of the Volunteer Center. Yeah. And also board member at the chamber. You have a big event coming up. It's actually going on right now. It is the Classics for a Cause annual car raffle? You guys are raffling off. It's a gorgeous 2017 Chevy Z 51 ltt Corvette, it's white and has 12,000 miles on it one owner. It's absolutely gorgeous. What can you tell us about it? Tell us about the raffle. And the purpose of the raffle?

Dolf De Ceuster 5:58

Well, you heard me talk a little bit about fundraisers that we do as a club, it helps our bottom line and help us have a budget to do what we do. The Classics for a Cause raffle has been going on. This is the fourth year we're doing it. The fourth car we're raffling off originally was started by the Senior Citizens Activities, and they asked us to partner with them on it. So we've partnered with them for the last couple of years on it. And essentially, it's a obviously a raffle to help support those two organizations, which in turn then supports other organizations around the county and the surrounding areas. So the car is absolutely gorgeous. You're right. It's in my opinion, by far the nicest car we've had. So we're really excited about it this year. And we're hoping for yet another really successful year, people have probably seen us around town quite a bit. I mean, we do the the local fairs and surrounding counties, we do the farmers market, we do a lot of local events. So keep an eye out for it. And yeah, absolutely, hopefully come support us in knowing that it's all going to go towards good causes.

Fuzz Martin 6:54

Yeah, definitely. So again, to the West Bend Sunrise Rotary and the Senior Citizens Activities, Inc, of West Bend, tell us a little bit about Senior Citizens Activities and what what is their purpose.

Dolf De Ceuster 7:05

So they are literally what it sounds like it's for senior citizen activities. And what they do is they do a lot of programming. And again, a lot of people are probably familiar with the organization, but they do programming for senior citizens retire people or people close to retirement, to have a social aspect, they do a lot of active things. Exercises. Pickleball, I'm pretty sure is a huge part of Sure. But you know, and a lot of probably cards and again, social activities to keep those people engaged with people their age, and so on and so forth. So, so this for them directly, again, affects their bottom line and the activities they can put out for the seniors around town.

Fuzz Martin 7:40

How many tickets for the classics for a cause? Are you going guys going to sell is there a cap to that?

Dolf De Ceuster 7:44

This year, the cap is going to be 7500? Okay, in the past years, it was a little bit higher was 10,000. We've never really gotten to that amount. Sure. And we also changed the price of the ticket a little bit this year, mostly because we're trying to match up with what other car raffles like this do. And also because the car is a step up from what we had in past years, sure. But yeah, 7500 is where it caps out at. There won't be any more sold than that. How much are tickets tickets are $40 each, or three for 100. So obviously, the more you buy, you get a little bit of incentive there in and we do have sponsorships smaller, big if people want to support it one way or the other sponsors get tickets in the amount that they sponsor for, they can give back to customers and so on and so forth. So, but yeah, $40 each or three 400 is what we have this year.

Fuzz Martin 8:33

Now, when and where are you guys drawing the raffle for the vehicle.

Dolf De Ceuster 8:36

The drawing will be on September 16. At the senior citizens golf outing, we've done that in the past that we figured it was a good time to do it. There's not a lot of events that we normally attend in fall this past year, because of COVID. We had it a little bit later was closer to Thanksgiving, the drawing, we decided to move it back up to the September timeframe because it made more sense with what we're trying to accomplish. So sure, and I assume you don't have to be present to win do not have to be present. And there's a cash option for the you know, for the winner. So there is an option to take a $40,000 cash prize if they so choose. be silly, in my opinion, because you can probably sell the car for more than that. But there's that option if somebody says hey, I don't I don't need the car don't want the car, I'll take the cash option. And if they sell the car to buy a garage, right? It's a lot of work. We'll make it happen if I wind up right where can people buy the tickets for the raffle there is a website for the classics for a cause that and again, that'll be up. People cannot buy tickets online but it'll tell you where the events are going to be and so on and so forth. Again keep an eye out for the car. It stands out quite a bit and there will be other places I believe Jeff's will be selling it okay do do a rotary members also sell them or is absolutely any anybody that's part of a rotary club or anybody that's on the board for the senior citizens Activity Center. I don't know exactly if all the members there will be selling it blusher but yes, any rotary member Absolutely. And again if you want go on the website. They will have contact information there if you want to reach out to somebody but other otherwise keep an eye out for the car around town at the events and strike up a conversation with the people. They're selling it because that's the fun way to learn about it.

Fuzz Martin: 10:11

Oh, yeah, absolutely. How many tickets? Are you going to buy?

Dolf De Ceuster: 10:13

Oh, I'll see. I do like this is my favorite car. And I usually I do buy tickets every single year. I haven't won it yet, obviously. But this is my favorite cars, I will absolutely be buying some tickets. You know what other cars you guys have had in the past is only the fourth annual one, right? It is a fourth annual because the first COVID year we held off it was essentially grandfathered that car into last year's raffle. Okay, and that was a 2007 Ford Mustang. Oh, cool. Before that, we had a 69 Corvette that was fully restored and was was gorgeous red Corvette. And before that, I believe it was a different Mustang. So we've we've we've kind of tried to keep it different. Because as we start talking to people at these events, selling tickets, you'll hear people say, but it's a Chevy, I don't want that person or a Ford. I'm only a Chevy person, right. So we do try to switch it up a little bit. But all these cars are awesome. So

Fuzz Martin: 11:01

Yeah, definitely, well, if you are a Ford person, I think you could just sit down and drive it if you want it and maybe change your mind. Right, again, drawing us on September 16th. And it'll take place at West Bend Lakes Golf Course, but you don't need to be present to win. There might be some other prizes as well, right? You guys are kind of still working out some of the details as the time of this recording. But there may be some second or third place prizes.

Dolf De Ceuster: 11:23

Yeah, we're trying to work out some incentives to increase people's odds at winning something right, rather than just one ticket. Although we kept the amount of tickets that we sell. We want people to have some incentive to buy tickets. And although it's obviously to support good causes, yeah. It's also fun to win something. So the better the odds are, the more likely people are willing to throw some money at it.

Fuzz Martin: 11:41

Yeah, absolutely. So again, people can find more information at classics for a cause.org Dolf. Thanks for all you do. Thanks for coming in. And thanks for saying yes to everything so that you ended up here today.

Dolf De Ceuster: 11:52

Absolutely.

Fuzz Martin: 11:54

Thanks again to Dolf de Ceuster of the West Bend Sunrise Rotary Club for joining me this week's episode of Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. I do appreciate you coming on the show and for giving us those details on that beautiful Corvette Z 51 that the West Bend Sunrise Rotary Club is raffling off. And thanks again to you for popping Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz into your ears. I do appreciate you joining me each and every week. Reminder new episodes launch every Monday at midnight. Also have going through and transcribing every episode for those who are hearing impaired. So that should be up on the website before the next episode launches next Monday. Be sure to hit the subscribe button on your favorite podcast player, Apple, Spotify or Google and we'll talk to you next week, right here on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai