I’ve wanted to write about going to my first-ever Meat Raffle for 3 weeks but have been too busy finishing my Ironman Training, packing, work, and personal stuff. Driving into the Central Time Zone has given me a bonus hour to write poolside in Birmingham, Alabama.
It’s 81 and humid at 4 pm so good for helping my heat acclimatization. For the last several days I have been biking and running in the basement wearing sweats and not turning on the fans. It is supposed to be 84, sunny, and humid for Ironman Florida in 6 days. That will slow me (and everyone not from Florida or Texas) on the run , in addition to my not quite pain-free (despite being “healed”) ankle fracture. But I’ll be blogging about the race next week so let me just do a quickie Meat Raffle report today.
In the 23 years I have lived in Buffalo I have heard very often of people going to “Meat Raffles”, usually to support a charity, a church, or someone with big medical bills. I have never gone to one though, I usually just make a donation via Venmo or GoFundMe.
I had started to plan to go to The Dominican Republic on a medical mission in early 2025 with a local group named MOCA that provides gynecology surgery and other services.
I actually won’t be able to travel with them in 2025 as it is the same time that I am going to Japan (with Alex) to run the Tokyo Marathon (Alex won’t be running, they said the NYC Marathon was enough). I did want to help fundraise though as I will hopefully be able to do the mission trip in 2026. For many years they have been using a meat raffle as their main annual fundraiser. I bought two tables worth of tickets and handed them out to the nurses at the hospital where I work. As I don’t eat mammals I wasn’t planning to try to win meat but would work as a volunteer at the event.
Being completely naive of the event I asked whether it included food, etc. The nurses who had all attended many explained to me that people bring their own food (anything from chips to ordering pizza or homemade stuff to share) while beer and “pop” (Buffalo is almost the midwest in some respects) would be free. And, YES, people brought coolers for their “winnings”.
I showed up a few hours early to help set up, putting out signs and blowing up balloons, etc. I was initially going to be a “runner”. I thought this just meant that I would “run” the winners meat out to them but it really meant being a raffle ticket seller.
The apron reminded me of my days volunteering in Alex’s elementary school cafeteria!
The Meat Raffle “guy” told us we had to be “pushy”, especially in the later rounds. I couldn’t sell water in the Sahara so I was happy when instead I got pulled and was put in charge of taking out the meats (and other frozen food items) for each round and then giving to the winners and then putting back in the freezer after each round.
Luckily my friend Andrew was assigned with me as I had trouble telling the various cuts apart!
I totally had a little panic attack every time I walked into the meat freezer…having seen dozens of movies and TV shows over the years about people getting stuck in there! The boxes on the bottom were special “bonus” rounds with lobster tails, filet mignon, etc.
There was also a wine bottle ring toss and both basket raffles and a silent auction. I donated all my wine and unopened liquor bottles as I have been newly sober since June. I was never a heavy drinker (other than binge/blackout drinking in college and med school) and it was not hard to switch to none versus 1-2 times per month. The latest studies are showing that ANY amount of alcohol consumption is NOT healthy and especially for people over 60. Even one or two beers or wines would always disrupt my sleep patterns.
Not all of the food in any round was won so at the end for the “grand finale” we took everything left out of the fridge and they had a super fast raffle with people running up and grabbing what they wanted.
It was funny when the last person sadly took the bag of deep fried pickles… I now know that if I ever attend a meat raffle as a participant I have to wait until the very end. I don’t want to “win” a pork butt or strip steaks or ! lamb š
The “grand finale” would let me pick some chicken breasts or shrimp or mozzarella sticks.
I wondered where (other than Buffalo) meat raffles were common and found this interesting article. They originated in pubs in the UK and are popular in Australia and Minnesota.
https://www.mashed.com/674899/the-untold-truth-of-meat-raffles
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