ORANGE — A well fed calf plopping his last meal in a grassy enclosure might not sound like a conventional fundraiser.
But it was successful.
Saturday, the Athol branch of Lions Clubs International held its Cow Flop event for the second year in a row.
An orange fence was erected around a portion of grass field. That enclosure was divided into squares, like checkers or a grid, and people could purchase one of the squares for $5 — all of which goes towards the Lions Club’s charity account.
Loosing local calf Jack on the grid, about a dozen people waited to see where he would defecate.
Finally, he dropped his lunch on a square right next to a long portion of orange fencing at Tractor Supply Co. off New Athol Road, Orange.
The winner, a woman who was not present at the event, won $500, while the owners of the four squares abutting the winning square each won $100.
Karen Perkins, a member of the Lions Club and organizer of the event, declined to tell how much money was raised or who was getting it, but said that it was a successful fundraiser that brought in more money than was given out.
“Every cent goes right into the community,” Perkins said. “And there’s always a need for that.”
Jim McIntosh was one of the $100-winners, and also a member of the Lions Club. He said the event is fun, especially on a sunny day, but more importantly is for a good cause.
“The more tickets we can sell for this, the more we can put in our charity account,” said McIntosh, adding that the Athol chapter tries to do as much local charity as possible.
He also said that any Lions Club fundraiser ultimately furthers the organizations mission of curing blindness.
“We want to eradicate blindness around the world,” said McIntosh, adding that much of the club’s charity money becomes seed funding for scientific research into blindness.
“A doctor or someone’s got an idea, but they need the start-up money, the seed money,” McIntosh said. “That’s what we help.”
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.