VERSAILLES, Ky. (LEX 18) — The giant roll of red raffle tickets is getting smaller and smaller and Greg Dotson hopes to soon sell every last one of them. For the third year in a row, the Woodford County cattle farmer is running his Dotson Christmas Charity Raffle.
“Everything was dreadful watching the news two years ago, so my wife and I were thinking, what can we do to help, what do we have,” he explained of that conversation during the pandemic. “That’s how we came up with the idea the first year. It was a ¼ beef for the raffle and it raised $10,000,” he continued.
As awareness of his raffle, and the need grew immediately following the western Kentucky tornadoes last December, Dotson was able to generate more prizes with the help of his generous donors. Last year, it paid off as he raised more than $70,000. That money went to farmers in western Kentucky who were decimated by the tornadoes.
This season, Dotson has two donated prize packages to offer the top two winners. Rare, expensive bourbon is included in both, with that ¼ beef and a gift certificate to the Kentucky Castle in the other. The top grand prize winner will then have two tough choices to make.
“The grand prize winner will get to pick which prize they get. Second place gets the other package, and then the grand prize winner will get to help pick the charity that all the money goes to,” Dotson explained.
Last year, he had asked for the winner to earmark that money for tornado victims. This year, the only caveat is that it goes to a person, or people in need, rather than to a charity that could use some of the money to pay a salary, or to cover other expenses.
When we checked in on Dotson at Woodford Feed Co. where he works as an account executive, he was up to a little more than $6,000 dollars. He will close the raffle on December 21 and pick the winners on December 23. He will then continue picking winners for years to come. This charity of his has really gained a lot of traction and he wants to gain even more in the years to come.
“I have no intentions of stopping. Keep going for as long as I can, lets put it that way,” Dotson said.
If you’d like to buy raffle tickets for Greg’s charity, you can drop by Woodford Feed Co. located at 498 Lexington Road in Versailles, or via Venmo @Greg-Dotson-9
