Fourth annual
Raise the Boot
fundraiser nets more than $
By Randy Capps | Photos courtesy of Partnership for Children of Johnston County
SMITHFIELD — It’s not unusual to see the parking lot at the Country Club of Johnston County full on an early March Saturday night. It’s also fairly commonplace to see those people gathered for a fundraiser in support of one of the many worthy causes in the community. Once inside, however, any notion of the Partnership for Children of Johnston County’s Raise the Booty event being a run-of-the-mill fundraiser vanished quicker than the desserts from the long table on the front wall. There were auctioneers dressed as pirates, a photo area, complete with hats, eye patches and spy glasses, silent auctions and much more energetic live ones near the end of the festivities. “Raise the Booty was fantastic,” 22 | JOHNSTON NOW
Christina Peterson, community engagement and outreach coordinator, said. “It was our highest grossing fundraiser yet. Huge community support and a lot of fun.” The event raised more than $58,000. This includes almost $18,000 that will go toward funding Story Walks for the Partnership for Children Park and other parks around the county. “Our fund the need was extremely powerful,” Peterson said. “We had a lot of support for the Partnership for Children Park, and early literacy is our main focus of that event. All of the money raised from Raise the Booty goes to support literacy efforts in Johnston County. Because the Partnership isn’t funded for that through Smart Start, so we have to raise funds to do that kind of stuff.”
A presentation by Owen Daughtry, author of “Different But Special,” was a big part of that fundraising success. “I had goosebumps, and I had some tears,” Peterson said. “To really know that people are that invested in the work that we do daily just really reinforces why we do what we do here — why I love working for the Partnership. We’re making a difference in families’ lives every single day, and to have Owen come and share his experience and his love for literacy with everybody else, and for people, one after another, to start donating so that other kids in the county can have those experiences as well is very heartwarming. It’s humbling, too, at the same time.” This year’s Raise the Booty was the fourth one, and each has been bigger than the last.
