Bourbon raffle rakes in funds for library

Chronicle photos by Andrew Temple Mayor Jim Auxer reads the name on the winning raffle ticket on Nov. 21 at Shepherdstown Liquors as store employee Courtney Lahman looks on.
One of the most sought after bourbons on the planet, Pappy Van Winkle 20-year, was raffled off at Shepherdstown Liquors to contribute to the building fund for the Shepherdstown Public Library. 419 tickets were sold, netting in $4,190 for the donation to the library; but there could only be one winner.
Tim Day, of Stephens City, Virginia, was the lucky winner of the drawing on Nov. 21.
“This bottle is worth much more than any other 20-year-old bourbon. I am happy to have given it away,” said Shepherdstown Liquors owner Mohsen Sadeghzadeh.
Day had only purchased one ticket at $10, making his win of the nearly $2,000 bottle of bourbon even sweeter.
“The lid will be gone once opened. I’m going to be one happy man,” Day said.

The bottle of Pappy Van Winkle is shown in a display case at Shepherdstown Liquors.
According to Lee Ann Warner, director of library development for the Shepherdstown Public Library, this raffle will play an important role pushing the library toward its goal.
“We are at $2,517,360 (currently), leaving just slightly more than $400,000 to meet our construction goal,” Warner said.
Mayor Jim Auxer was on hand to draw the winning ticket. According to Auxer, Sadeghzadeh’s donation is evidence of the town’s desire to see the new library built.
“I’d like to thank Mohsen for his support of the Shepherdstown Library. This raffle will be instrumental to the building of (its) new (facility),” Auxer said.
While the raffle proved to be successful, more funds are still required in order to make the new library a reality. According to Warner, other fundraisers are already in motion, giving the people of Shepherdstown continuing opportunities to support their library.
“We are currently selling ‘Open a Book and Grow Your Mind’ holiday T-shirts in children and adult sizes for $15 each. Our very successful Giving Circle-Nourishing Literacy One Meal at a Time initiative, with 27 current members, continues to grow, and we are planning our ‘Night Out at Big Cork’ event in March 2018,” Warner said. “We do plan to schedule other fundraising events – yet to be determined – in the 2018 calendar year.”
- The bottle of Pappy Van Winkle is shown in a display case at Shepherdstown Liquors.