Everything you need to know about VIMSIA's Las Vegas Night
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Las Vegas Night is the biggest annual fundraiser for our Virgin Islands Montessori School and Peter Gruber International Academy (VIMSIA). Over the years, it has gained the reputation of a “not to be missed” event on the St. Thomas social calendar. A seasonal celebration of goodwill towards VIMSIA, proceeds help subsidize tuition costs and fund scholarships to encourage student diversity.
We can’t wait to kick off the holidays together again! This year, Las Vegas Night will be held on Saturday 2nd December 2023 from 7:00p.m. to 1:00a.m. at Sapphire Beach Resort.
There are several areas for our parent body and the larger corporate community to get involved in. These are as follows:
1) Raffle: one of the largest income earners in the event. Tickets are $5 each and are sold in books of 10. Cash prizes totalling $14,500 are at stake.
On September 7, each family received a minimum of 2 books for purchase or sale. We have 10,000 tickets to sell though, so we ask for your strongest and timely efforts in this venture. Please turn all money and ticket stubs as soon as they’re sold to the school’s Office Manager Kathy Huttel, and ask for more books to sell. Remember, the 2 families that sell the most over 35 complete raffle books will have $1500 and $750 discounted from next year’s tuition. We need a raffle coordinator as well as 10 persons to cover our car park collection between Nov 27 & Dec 1.
2) Prizes & Donations: These are used in auctions that are run throughout the night. As a parent community, we are connected with the best companies, products and services. Whether it be cruises, charters, branded baskets, vintage collections of wine, hotel packages, boat charters, jewellery, arts and crafts, electronics, automobiles, spa packages, restaurant or private catering services – keep in mind that ‘if you’d want to bid on it, then we’d want it as a prize’.
We need a solicitations coordinator as well as 10 -15 persons to cover our asks.
3) Volunteers: Las Vegas Night is a huge undertaking. Areas of work (pre-event and during the event) include admissions, auction, banking, data entry, dealers, raffle, set up and take down and solicitations. We need reliable, pro-active, dedicated and hard-working volunteers. To gain free admission to Las Vegas Night, volunteers are required to work for a minimum of 4 hours prior to the event, or a minimum of 2.5 hours on the night. Of course, if you can afford the time, please volunteer for a longer period. Your reward will be knowing that you’ve given back to the school that’s giving your child/ren such an amazing education!
4) Marketing and Advertising: If you are a boss at flyers, videos, social media, or have an “in” with radio programs or newspapers, please let us know how best you can help spread the word.
5) Admission tickets: $125 each in advance and $150 at the door. Included in the ticket price are light hors d’oeuvres. Our school population is 290, and our goal for participants on the night is over 700+. Do the math and let’s all work to fill the venue. Tickets can be purchased in advance on our website: www.vimsia.org/donate.
Once at the event, here’s what you need to know:
Drink tickets and gaming chips will be available for purchase at the admissions table and at the Main Bank. Gaming chips are used in the mock gaming, which includes blackjack, roulette, poker (Texas Hold’em) and maybe craps. PLEASE NOTE THAT NEITHER DRINK TICKETS NOR GAMING CHIPS ARE INTERCHANGEABLE OR REEDEMBLE FOR CASH – YOUR GAMING WINNINGS OR LEFT OVER CHIPS CAN BE USED TO BID ON SOME AUCTION PRIZES, OR CONSIDERED A DONATION TO VIMSIA. We thank you in advance for your generosity in spending.
For those who want to support the school but don’t like or are opposed in principal to the concept of gambling, the socializing is wonderful, dress up and party with the community. The atmosphere is a thrill, and DJ Cypha will be on hand for dancing. There’s something for everyone – and we look forward to your most enthusiastic support, to making lots of money for our children’s school, and to seeing you all there!
See below roles, responsibilities, and expectations for volunteer areas. Please contact me at lchamelyaqui@gmail.com to offer to serve!
Warm regards,
Lisa Chamely-Aqui
Fundraising Coordinator
VOLUNTEER DUTIES AND DESCRIPTIONS
SOLICITATION
Pre-event
Head of Solicitation:
Co-ordinates the solicitors and lists of businesses. Makes initial contact with businesses via email. Responsible for the organization of the solicited items and their documentation.
Works with database head.
Hands everything over to the Heads of Live and Silent Auctions and Bingo in a timely fashion.
Solicitors:
Contact minimum of 20 businesses and ask for donations to the Live & Silent Auctions, Bingo and Straight Sale portions of the event.
Follow-up with dropping off documentation and collection of donations to be used in auctions and bingo on the night.
MARKETING
Social media boosting, flyers, logo placement, webpage content development, promotions
DATA ENTRY
Pre-event: Help with the data entry of all Auction items and packages. Must be able to work with Access and Excel programs.
At the event: Register the auction bid cards with contact information corresponding to the bid number; as that eases off, work with the auction checkout table.
VOLUNTEERS
Pre-event:
Help manage Sign up Genius for LVN
Call/send emails to registered volunteers to confirm shifts, expectations.
Prepare sheets with volunteer names/shifts to have at admissions.
At the event: Check off volunteers at admissions.
AUCTION
Silent Auction Director:
Works closely with the Heads of Gift Solicitation, Live Auction, Head Banker and Data Management in packaging donations.
Provide the auction package data to be included on the website and maybe as a brochure at the event.
Work with Live Auction to create PowerPoint display for auctions (for school creations and high-end items).
Creates the layout for the auction presentation.
Reviews all gift descriptions and starting bid amounts.
Ensures that all items are properly tagged and displayed, and appropriate documentation is in order.
Oversees bidding process.
If a dispute arises, will have final say in the resolution of the dispute.
Responsible for the providing Data Management / Check-out of the winners and posting the auction results.
Ensuring that all auction items are relocated from the auction tables to the check out area and that the labeling is clear for claiming.
Silent Auction Volunteers:
Task on the night:
Need to become familiar with the items up for auction.
Monitor bidding process during auction cycle.
Post winners.
Secure items after auction cycle closes.
Monitor until pick-up of items takes place.
Live Auction Floor Coordinator:
Pre-event:
Works closely with the Auction Director and Head of Gift Solicitation in organizing donations for Live Auction.
Responsible for the flow of all support activity on the Live Auction floor.
Create ppt to advertise live auction packages.
Be familiar with all package details as presented in the Live Auction brochure.
Works closely with the Head Auctioneer, providing him/her with printed prompt cards of additional details on all items in the Live Auction.
At the event:
Assist with the running of the Live Auction by being on the auction floor and spotting potential bidders, noting bidding information and taking forms from the floor to the auction data entry area, inputting data into the computer.
Show auction items to attendees during bidding.
Assist onstage to read package descriptions before Auctioneer starts bidding.
Manage gifts after auction to assist during checkout.
Check out: verify auction winners, take credit card or chip payments, hand over items won with due diligence.
Depending on how big the auction is, you will need to prepare the bidding owl with items, assign and control bidder numbers at the event, enter all of the silent and live bid winning sheets as they each close, create invoices, take payment, pick/pack product. If it's small, you may not need that much control.
ADMISSIONS
Pre-event: Help catalogue and distribute admissions tickets/chips to sponsors.
At the event:
Greeters meet attendees at the entrance.
Entry table sales assist with selling admission tickets, beverage tickets, and chips to be used at the gaming tables.
Accurate handling of monies.
Be able to explain the activities and their locations, available through out the evening.
Door attendants to verify admissions and stamp or provide bands.
BANKING PARENTS ONLY PLEASE.
At the event: Responsible for the accurate handling and accounting of monies, chips and ticket sales on the night of the event.
GAMING
Pre event: Practice during at least 6 blackjack dealer practices which are held twice a week at Caribbean Fish Market leading up to the event and to dealing on and off during the course of the LVN event. Contact wthomas@kellfer.com if you want to be a blackjack dealer.
RAFFLE
Pre event:
Encourage sales
Collection of tickets/money etc at drop off and pick up at both car parks the week leading up to LVN.
At the event: Sell raffle tickets
SET UP AND STRIKE
Pre and post event:
Help provide the safe and secure transportation of items needed at the dealer practice venue and to and from Sapphire.
Moves equipment.
Provide maintenance of equipment where necessary and assist with heavy labor during the decoration process and in the taking down process the morning after LVN.
Hanging of LVN signage.
Helpful to have handyman experience and access to a pick up truck.
STRONG PEOPLE NEEDED PLEASE!
After SOLICITATIONS: please put pre-event before all the responsibilities.
With Silent and Live AUCTION
Add task on the night: