contender
Ruger Guru
Well, we all know that the beer virus has affected everything. Last year,, with all the shutdowns & such,, many FoNRA events were never held. At the NRA,, they also laid off or let go many employees associated with the Foundation.
My local rep was on layoff for a while,, but as they started trying to get things going again,, he had to cover a much larger area,, as the staff cut backs had created voids.
My 2020 even was held last Feb BEFORE all the shutdowns,, and as such, a good success.
But 2021 is here,, and we are still fighting the beer virus crap,, AND here in NC,, a demonic Governor who has seriously shut down some businesses,, (bars & large events,) cost jobs,, & in general,, put a lot of the State in financial distress. Add in that my event,, being held in Asheville NC,, where the City has ADDED even more strict regulations to things,, creates many more problems. But hey,, they are having sporting events & such,, because Lord knows we can't shut down football or basketball etc.
So,, here locally,, we are under a strict regulation for events to "no more than 30% capacity."
The event center we use in Asheville,, has had almost ALL it's events cancelled due to this crap.
We had a contract with them,, so we were committed or we'd still have to pay a cancellation fee.
So,, we went forward with our 2021 FoNRA event. It was last night.
NORMALLY,,, we have about 400 people attend,, (we could sell more tickets due to the size,, but that's our normal numbers.) With the restrictions,, the event center only allowed us to have 100 attendees. That is ONE FOURTH of our normal attendee numbers. With that,,, we were expecting to hopefully make 1/4th our normal monies. And we also had some committee members who have health issues to where they didn't feel comfortable attending. (Two of which were my son, and his wife,, and his wife is the treasurer. But she's enduring her 2nd round of breast cancer treatment. And my youngest has asthma,, and didn't want to risk taking a possible virus back home.)
So,, we scaled back our event to handle just 100 people.
We didn't do as many games,, or have as much merchandise. We did have 23 guns as prizes & such,, so it was almost 1 in 4 per attendee. We cut out our silent auction. And being smaller,, we didn't have to work quite as hard as normal,, so it went a bit quicker, and easier.
So, with all we've done so far,, we had a gross receipt for the event so far of right at $70,000. Now,, we have to deduct our expenses,, as well as we are going to be doing another online raffle, to boost our numbers. But we are hopeful in our net being $40,000 or better. Looking at it so far,, we may well make that. Not our normal amounts,, but pretty darn good considering all the changes we had.
And of course,, I'm accused of having a "golden horseshoe" strategically located,, and often win a few goodies. With the smaller event,, I figured to try & spend a bit more to help more,, AND my odds would be a bit better. I was salivating over a few guns & such, inwardly smiling as I just knew I'd have a good night.
Well,,, it's the first event in a LONG time where I did not win a single item. Nothing,, nada,, was drawn for me. I only got close by one number on one raffle ticket.
Still,, I'm quite pleased at the way we did pull together and hold what I feel was a good event.
My local rep was on layoff for a while,, but as they started trying to get things going again,, he had to cover a much larger area,, as the staff cut backs had created voids.
My 2020 even was held last Feb BEFORE all the shutdowns,, and as such, a good success.
But 2021 is here,, and we are still fighting the beer virus crap,, AND here in NC,, a demonic Governor who has seriously shut down some businesses,, (bars & large events,) cost jobs,, & in general,, put a lot of the State in financial distress. Add in that my event,, being held in Asheville NC,, where the City has ADDED even more strict regulations to things,, creates many more problems. But hey,, they are having sporting events & such,, because Lord knows we can't shut down football or basketball etc.
So,, here locally,, we are under a strict regulation for events to "no more than 30% capacity."
The event center we use in Asheville,, has had almost ALL it's events cancelled due to this crap.
We had a contract with them,, so we were committed or we'd still have to pay a cancellation fee.
So,, we went forward with our 2021 FoNRA event. It was last night.
NORMALLY,,, we have about 400 people attend,, (we could sell more tickets due to the size,, but that's our normal numbers.) With the restrictions,, the event center only allowed us to have 100 attendees. That is ONE FOURTH of our normal attendee numbers. With that,,, we were expecting to hopefully make 1/4th our normal monies. And we also had some committee members who have health issues to where they didn't feel comfortable attending. (Two of which were my son, and his wife,, and his wife is the treasurer. But she's enduring her 2nd round of breast cancer treatment. And my youngest has asthma,, and didn't want to risk taking a possible virus back home.)
So,, we scaled back our event to handle just 100 people.
We didn't do as many games,, or have as much merchandise. We did have 23 guns as prizes & such,, so it was almost 1 in 4 per attendee. We cut out our silent auction. And being smaller,, we didn't have to work quite as hard as normal,, so it went a bit quicker, and easier.
So, with all we've done so far,, we had a gross receipt for the event so far of right at $70,000. Now,, we have to deduct our expenses,, as well as we are going to be doing another online raffle, to boost our numbers. But we are hopeful in our net being $40,000 or better. Looking at it so far,, we may well make that. Not our normal amounts,, but pretty darn good considering all the changes we had.
And of course,, I'm accused of having a "golden horseshoe" strategically located,, and often win a few goodies. With the smaller event,, I figured to try & spend a bit more to help more,, AND my odds would be a bit better. I was salivating over a few guns & such, inwardly smiling as I just knew I'd have a good night.
Well,,, it's the first event in a LONG time where I did not win a single item. Nothing,, nada,, was drawn for me. I only got close by one number on one raffle ticket.
Still,, I'm quite pleased at the way we did pull together and hold what I feel was a good event.
