Brian Tadlock of Landis won the Y Service Club raffle on Sept. 12 and can take either a 2020 Ford Escape SUV or $18,000 in cash instead.

Tadlock’s dad, Frank, was one of the founders of the Y Service Club and the original vehicle giveaway project. When reached by phone, Brian Tadlock was unaware that the drawing was in progress since his mother, Sue, had purchased his winning ticket. Asked what he was doing, Tadlock responded, “Just out working with some cows.”

He later brought his family to see the car and decided to take the weekend to decide whether to keep it or take the cash.

For the past 31 years, the Y Service Club annual raffle fundraiser drawing was almost always held as part of a hot Farmers Day celebration in China Grove. This time, with limited people on hand, the raffle took place in one of the South Rowan YMCA gyms.

Club members and partners China Grove Civitan, South Y Board of Managers and South Rowan High FFA Alumni Association sold 250 tickets at $150 each over the last two months. All tickets were drawn out of a tumbler with the order of drawing key to the final outcome. Finalists were tickets drawn at 1, 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200, 225 and 250 with all re-entered into the subsequent drawing that culminated with the final ticket drawn from the tumbler as the winner.

The South Rowan Y Service Club has used funds from the vehicle giveaway project for various needs in the community:

• South Rowan YMCA building construction project capital needs– $110,000
• South Rowan Frank Tadlock Branch Library construction project – $10,000
• Construction of the Frank Tadlock Splash Park at South Rowan YMCA – $37,500
• Picnic Shelter at South Rowan YMCA site, initial construction + $5,000 renovation project
• Passenger bus for South Rowan YMCA – $38,000
• Passenger van for South Rowan YMCA – $20,000
• Cameras and security system at South Rowan YMCA – $10,500
• Support South Rowan and Carson High Schools Bible Teaching Association – $24,000
• Scholarships for Summer Day Camps at South Rowan YMCA – $10,000
• Support of “We Build People” Annual Fund for YMCA family financial assistance – $2,500 annually
• Free weights and exercise bikes for SRYMCA – $13,000
• Functional Training Area for SRYMCA $13,000
• Locker room upgrades – $5000

 

Other South YMCA projects included bleachers, a storage trailer, prayer breakfasts, landscaping, a pitching machine, youth teams and Y’s Mens International.

 

Three ticket owners were on hand Saturday after earning the right for the finalist drawing, including last year’s winner Michael Parker and a double finalist this time. He had been buying a ticket for about 10 years, starting when his dad won a truck. Last year, Michael took the cash and had planned to do it again.

Rudy Wise, former mayor of Landis, had been buying a ticket for all 32 years. He said, “I’ve never won before and I have no chance this time. But it does feel like I deserve it.” Wise usually buys one ticket for himself and another for his business, Advanced Benefit Plans from Kannapolis.

Y Service Club member Ray Baker won in 2012. He took the cash but was undecided what he would do this time. Ray said, “I still think I need a car but I could use the cash too. My car just needs to go off and die and be a piece of junk in the pasture.”

 

After Tadlock found out he was the winner, he said, “I haven’t really thought about it yet. We won’t go out and spend it right away and likely it will go to something for our boys’ future. I never thought I would win, I’ve been trying since 1989.”

Brian and wife, Lisa, are parents to sons, Cole and Grant.

Providing the Ford Escape and handling the financial exchange, Cloninger Ford General Manager Nathan Peele and managing partner Ron Lovelace made the check presentation to Tadlock on Wednesday. Cloninger Ford and Larry Cloninger have supported the vehicle project since its inception.

The South Rowan Y Service Club was founded in 1988 and the first raffle for a vehicle was done in the summer of 1989. Milton Taylor of Kannapolis won a red Ford Mustang convertible with a white top. Proceeds paid for a bus for the South Y that the service club had already committed to buy.

And service club members are still at it. This year’s proceeds will help provide new YMCA equipment, a new cleaning machine and supplies, sustaining campaign pledge, renovations to the Y, Main Street Mission, Meals on Wheels, South and Carson high schools Bible teaching associations, Rowan Literacy Council and South Rowan High FFA.