Lobster Race Fundraiser

The YMCA in New Bedford, MA, held a lobster race fundraiser to benefit its scholarship program. The race was wildly popular with spectators, who cheered loudly at times for the likes of Sweet-2-Eat, Goes Awesome w/Fries, Chicken of the Sea and Dr. Claw, some of the other racing lobsters. For a dollar, people had a one-in-four chance of winning one of the 18 lobster races. Students in the metal fabrication department at Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational-Technical High School designed and built the structure to race the lobsters, which contained four 5-foot long channels, stepped one on top of the other. The lobsters were contained by Plexiglas and the channels were filled with salt water. Students said they scratched their heads when they were first told what they would be building. “We never heard of it before. We said, ‘How can you race lobsters?'” A local seafood market donated 24 lobsters and about 40 local businesses paid $100 each to sponsor a lobster. No lobsters were harmed during the fundraiser. They were returned to the waters of Buzzards Bay as soon as they had done their part for the YMCA.

We have included a number of do-it-yourself fundraising ideas in this section that offer a break from traditional product sales. They were developed by groups just like yours in an attempt have a little fun with their fundraiser. Some of them are tried and true while others show a lot of creativity … and even wackiness in some cases. All of them are obviously not appropriate for every group, but sometimes, with only a little modification, your might find some fund raising ideas that are perfect for your group. If you have an idea for a do-it-yourself fund raiser you are willing to share with others, please send it to us via email. Include anything and everything you would want to know if you were hearing the idea for the first time.