STERLING, Ill. — Hundreds packed into K's Korners, a bar outside Sterling, on Tuesday, July 30 hoping to win big in the queen of hearts raffle.
In this style of raffle, there are 54 envelopes with numbers written on the outside. Each contains a playing card and is attached to a board. When filling out a raffle ticket, people write the number of an envelope — if that ticket is pulled, the corresponding envelope is opened.
Every week, a different ticket is drawn. If the number on the ticket reveals the queen of hearts, that person wins the jackpot. If the number reveals any other card, all the tickets are discarded, and the raffle starts over again the next week.
With only three cards left, the jackpot at K's Korners has grown to more than $200,000. It's taken more than a year of drawings to eliminate the 51 other cards.
Longtime patron Kathleen Wilson has been coming to drawings for the past year, but the prize money isn't the only reason she's here.
"There's a lot of women who don't have those resources to have somewhere to go stay with their children and stuff," Wilson said.
Once that jackpot is paid out, 30% goes to the PADS Homeless Shelter in Dixon. Bar Owner Marion Younger is also on the board of directors for the shelter.
"When we started the queen of hearts it was to get the women and children's shelter going," Younger said.
Over the past seven drawings, the raffle has raised about $150,000 for the shelter.
"What we're planning to do with this money from this drawing is we want to open a warming center for people that don't fit our program but still need shelter and food," Younger said.
PADS also helps with job searches, drivers license tests, GEDs and social security applications.
"Our goal now isn’t just to give you shelter," Younger said. "Our goal is to help you figure out, how did you get here and how are you going to get out of this, how are you going to turn your life around?"
The shelter doesn't receive government funding, so it operates entirely off of community donations like the raffle.
"Without the queen of hearts, we wouldn’t be running," Younger said. "And the people around here feel good about donating to PADS, they really really are good about donating to PADS."
When it came time for this week's drawing, the card revealed was the eight of clubs. The crowd will have to come back on Aug. 20 for another shot at the jackpot.
The bar is raising more money for the shelter with a 50/50 raffle. So far, that has raised more than $35,000. That doesn't include more than $3,000 raised on Tuesday night alone.