2011 Prius raffle winners S. A. Ephraim and Ruth Rosenblum (front row, from right) pose with CCLC, Inc. board members Rachael Lindstrom and Leslie Kashiwada (front row, from left) and assorted Caspar Creek students.
Lucky Locals Win 2011 Prius Raffle
S. A. Ephraim had given up on attending Caspar Creek Learning Community’s January 29, 2011 Prius raffle drawing celebration at the Mendocino Recreation Center. His wife, Ruth Rosenblum, and their young son Yoel, a Caspar Creek Kindergartener, were already in attendance at the event, and would represent him as he stayed behind to mind the family business, Frankie’s Pizza and Ice Cream, a mere two blocks away.
However, the promise of square dancing, bake sale, and silent auction (along with the fifth annual Prius drawing) must have proved irresistible. Ephraim, joining the party in progress, arrived in time to watch Yoel’s teacher, Anne Blanton, pull his family’s winning ticket from the custom-built tumbler (made from a repurposed pickle barrel) used to mix up the nearly 2,500 entries.
Adding a note of serendipity was the fact that Ephraim had worked at Caspar Creek as an instructional aide for several years prior to his and Rosenblum’s 2007 acquisition of Frankie’s, and in that role had been an early supporter of the original Prius raffle.
Caspar Creek Learning Community is a non-classroom-based K-5 public charter school program serving Mendocino Coast families from Westport to Albion since 2000. All proceeds from the Prius raffle support Caspar Creek’s local educational programs and its learning center near Caspar.