Sherry and Robert Roux are raffling off a house in order to raise money for a nonprofit organization.
This home isn’t just some foreclosed dump they bought in a pinch and decided to flip overnight – it’s their own home.
The Roux family recently helped form OurVETS, which was established last March. OurVETS is a nonprofit organization based in Trenton that is aimed at helping veterans in tough situations.
"We are very excited about the opportunity to help those who risked their lives to protect our way of life," Sherry Roux, OurVETS president, said in a press release. "Our veterans deserve nothing but the best and we are here to help.”
A major way the Roux family is trying to raise money for their organization is by selling raffle tickets for $100 each. Their goal is to sell 100,000 tickets and the grand prize will be their own home in Gilchrist County.
According to Robert Roux, a member on the OurVETS board of directors, there are other prizes offered in the raffle including cruises, YETI coolers and televisions.
“You have a 1-in-48 chance of winning something on the raffle,” Robert said.
Dave Biddle, a co-founder of OurVETS and a member on the board of directors, said that the prizes available will be funded completely by the sale of the raffle tickets.
Roux said OurVETS, which just got 501(c)(3) non-profit status from the IRS in December, aims to have a million-dollar goal met in May with hopes of having the drawing on Memorial Day to celebrate the veterans.
Robert said once all tickets have been sold, the raffle will be carried out via webcast.
A large portion of the proceeds will be used to help these veterans in need.
“We set it up in our bylaws that a minimum of 80 percent of what we raise has to be used for the veterans and 20 percent for administrative,” Robert said. “But our goal is to give about 90 percent to the veterans.”
In giving away their home, Robert said his family simply plans on downsizing to a smaller home.
"They were looking to downsize anyway and I think it's great that they wanted to put their house out there to raise money to support our injured veterans," Biddle said.
“OurVETS’ goal is to help as many veterans in need as possible. They will help those who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and need a companion dog, to veterans who are amputees or physically handicapped and need service dogs to provide routine tasks,” the press release also stated. “OurVETS will find those veterans and bring them relief.”
"We don't have a minimum or maximum number of veterans we are looking to help, we want to help as many as we can possibly afford to," Biddle said.
Biddle said OurVETS plans to work closely with other posts in the area, such as AMVETS in Chiefland, to help find veterans needing help throughout the community.
"We'll also be available online and on social media so that if anybody wants to reach out to us, they can," Biddle said. "We're also going to have a couple local veterans working with us to help us identify veterans truly in need of the help."