About 60 people raised $5,000 for Flossmoor’s Wall of Honor project at a raffle and trivia night event at Flossmoor Community House on Friday, March 18, according to Kris Condon, secretary-treasurer of Flossmoor Veterans Memorial.
Flossmoor Veterans Memorial, Inc. is raising money for the Wall of Honor that will list the hundreds of veterans with Flossmoor roots. The memorial would consist of an outdoor public plaza including a circular area that is defined by a stone seat wall and five steel pillars that represent each branch of the Armed Forces: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard.
Tables lining the walls were filled with numerous raffle items donated by local organizations, businesses and individuals. Participants dropped their tickets inside of the bags in front of the items they hoped to win.
Condon offered remarks from organization president Paul Braun who was unable to attend after undergoing surgery for a broken bone.
“We are on our way to building a memorial wall for the community’s veterans. And in the past six months have raised over $20,000 towards our goal of $100,000,” Condon said while reading Braun’s speech. “Please open your hearts and your wallets this evening so we can please bring this project to fruition. I guarantee you that you, your families and the future generations of Flossmoor residents will not only be honoring our veterans, but the space will be a wonderful addition for the community.”
During the trivia portion of the evening, there was a round for questions related to science, music, movies/television and slogans/logos. There was a round called Flossmoor Lore that was sponsored by Flossmoor Mayor Michelle Nelson and Gina LoGalbo, Flossmoor village clerk and a member of the memorial’s steering committee. Another round included slideshow pictures of locations on Google Maps, such as Lake Superior and Millennium Park in Chicago, and players had to identify the place.
One of the questions in the Fun With Science round was “What is the name of the supercontinent suspected to have existed some 200 million years ago?” The answer was “Pangea.” An example of a question in the Flossmoor Lore round was, “The original name of the Flossmoor Country Club?” The correct answer was “Homewood Country Club.”
Participants laughed and cheered when an answer was announced to a question they found especially difficult, but it turned out their answer was right. No phones were allowed during trivia.
At the end of each round, the answer sheets were collected by Silver Award Girl Scout Madi Philbin and other volunteers and then tallied. First prize for trivia night was $150, and the second prize was $75.
When the raffle winners were picked they were announced by LoGalbo and Josh Grenard of the steering committee. Before each announcement, the adults shook up the bag of raffle tickets to make the winner more random. Two children pulled the winning tickets out of the bag.
Raffle items included a framed poster of Richard Haas’ mural of the marquee and entrance at the Homewood Theatre that operated until 1984. Homewood has the largest collection of Richard Haas murals in the country. This print and a framed 1954 Indianapolis 500 program were donated to the raffle by Richard Condon.
Participants could also win 15 boxes of Girl Scouts cookies. They were donated by Philbin and her mother Kelly Philbin of the Girl Scout Service Center. Another item in the raffle was 15 boxes of Girl Scout cookies paired with the anthology book, Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls.”
Some of the other businesses and organizations that donated were the Homewood Science Center, Blue Pearl Candles and the village of Flossmoor.