You could have a theme for your meals,i. e. Mexican, Italian, etc.

How about a chili cookoff one night?

As far as fundraisers go, how about selling something people regularly use or need. Here in Oklahoma, a great fundraiser is the Blue and Gold Sausage. You can buy either sausage, bacon, or chicken strips. It's a quality 'made in Oklahoma' product at a reasonable price. People actually want to buy it. Are there some locally made products from Florida besides citris fruit or the surrounding states that are good?

Years ago as chairmna of entertainment committee at a small country club & declining membership, I suggested we have monthly "Round the World" dinners.

Using menu & themes pertinent to the selected country we were surprised to find how many things some of us had stashed away that could be used as decorations. Serapes, Mexican hats, hula skirts, faux pineapples, etc. were used for focal points & by adding inexpensive party store items to tables, the clubhouse was festive & inviting. Each member was asked to bring a guest or two, further enticed by donated door prizes. Within a short time we had large crowds and quite a number of new members. Oh yes...everyone was warmly greeted at the DOOR, helped to a table or find friends.

Good luck!

Thanks for these great ideas.....please keep 'em coming!!!

Anyone have a great recipe for thick chicken and dumplings or a chicken pot pie????

The local Humane Society in our little town has a yearly "garage" sale to raise money. They request donation of unwanted items before the sale (it was in this week's paper) and then invite people to come and shop on the day of the sale. They also have volunteers pick up items if you need them picked up.

The chicken and dumpling recipe in the link is very good and you'll see by the reviews that I am not the only one that thinks so!

The only changes I make are to mix the soup and water together before adding to the crockpot. I also do not like the doughy dumplings, so I use Bisquick dumplings (they take a little longer to cook in the crockpot than they would on the stove though... so add about 10 extra minutes to the Bisquick box directions).

Here is a link that might be useful: Chicken and Dumplings

I am going to combine my suggestions based on my hometown (pop=500) in PA, as well as the Legion in Largo & the Madeira Beach Legion where I am an Auxiliary member.

PA: Every Thurs night is Bingo-they get almost 150 out for that-BIG money maker. The kitchen offers Texas Hot dogs,or a 1 dish item (mac & cheese, scalloped potatoes & ham, etc), a salad. soup and a dessert...easy, inexpensive items.

They have raffles on their busiest night (Friday night-which is 'wing night'-wings & potato salad) and the aux. sells tickets every hour with the lucky number drawn receiving meat of some source (5lb box bacon, 4 strip steaks, tenderloin, etc). They deal with a local meat company to buy the meat at just below wholesale.

Another Legion has "Bar Bingo" every Saturday from 1-3pm. Again-the winner of each game, gets a coupon and at 3pm-you get a choice of different meats to take home-1 per coupon.

Largo Legion runs an "All you can eat" fish fry and also run a strip steak dinner- every Friday from 5 to 8pm...with baked potato & salad. Big crowd for that.

Aother Legion Aux. runs a Fish Dinner every Friday w/fries & slaw for $5.50 The auxiliary puts on an 'all you can eat' spaghetti dinner the 2nd Sat of each month & a Chicken & Biscuits dinner the 4th Sat of the month.

Why not try Breakfasts on Sunday? I did this VERY succesfully in PA...rotated aux members so noone had to work every Sunday-ran it from 8 to 11am. Even the paper man-delivered Sunday papers for us to sell right there..had quiet music in the background..nice way to start a Sunday morning. I ran 1 special (sausage gravy over biscuits, dried beef gravy over toast, oven baked omelet, etc, etc. Eggs to order-choice of breakfast meats & home fries, with this limited menu-1 week I offered French Toast-the next hot cakes.

How about a "Ladies Luncheon' every other Wed or Sat or whenever? Sign up sheet & advanced tickets.

Also-a Men's "Kick off" party on Sundays...sausage & peppers, hot dogs, etc-or a "Bean & Ham dinner" ?

Justa' few things to ponder.

Have a Silent Auction on a Sat afternoon from noon to 3-winners announced at 3:30. Get new items donated my local merchants, artists, crafters, etc.

Have a 'Breakfast w/Santa' for the kids-

The BIGGEST money maker in PA is their "Cow Pie Bingo"-run every July. Tickets are $10 each-sold months in advance & that day as well. Can go into detail if you email me.

I always add Celery, Onions, Carrots to my C & D. My Dumplings are Bisquick Box, but I add S & P and a little Parsley to the mixture.

I thicken the pot by adding 2 TBLS of Flour into a Mason Jar and fill 1/2 full with Milk and Shake it until the Flour is blended. Add it to the C & D pot just before adding the Dumplings.

The key to really good C & D is to stew a whole chicken and debone. Put the Broth in the refrig to spearate the fat from the broth.

Believe me I've made it with Chicken Breasts and it really lacks the flavor of real old fashion C & D.

Gayle

We have German night buffett, Mexican Buffett and in the winter Saturday only Breakfast buffett. Soup/salad supper in the winter with fresh breads is good too.

Judy

Thanks so very much for all of these ideas. I really appreciate this so much. For January, we're serving chicken and dumplings and then having an old fashioned pie supper. This will be the desserts. Then we have a local Shriners Hillbilly Band that will be doing music. Hopefully, a lot of the people will be getting into the swing of things and dress in hillbilly costumes. I'm thinking of having a cakewalk and maybe setting up a silent auction. Anyone have any other fun suggestions?

In cool weather, as one dish at a dinner, do you do scalloped potatoes?

With or without meat, cheese, etc.

ole joyful

P.S. question to Sharon FL ... in the Cow Pies that you have ... do they include the cow itself .. or just its cargo that it offloaded earlier?

o j

A pie contest, crock pot potluck. appetizer night, how about a toy drive-could be fun if you revitalize old ones, guess the mystery ingredient with small prizes,book swap,

Fashion show, but not "fashionable"! Get everyone to dress in old clothes, strange outfits, etc. and have prizes for the various categories.
Hat night. Everyone has to wear a hat, and if they don't, have a bunch of ghastly hats that they have to donate a dollar to wear.
Show and Tell. It's not just for kindergarteners! Especially if you have older attendees, some of the show and tell can be pretty interesting.
You're great to try to breathe life into your organization. Good luck!

How about a meat roll on the Sat afternoon..every Sat. that is

One organization here has a silent auction in January. We donate Christmas gifts we got and don't want, or things around the house we are tired of. Jewelry, art projects, a lovely scarf, a set of cocktail glasses, piece of crystal, etc. Some items are silly, such as a frog made of maneuer and decorated to sit in the garden and fertilize the plants. The owner brings the item early to the club lunch, a committee sets them out on a row of tables, and the ownder writes the description of it on the silent auction paper with the display. You can get some real bargains here and the income goes to the club. You have to be real careful as a committee that the items are paid for by the winner, and no one has mixed up the items. Left overs are donated to a local thrift shoppe.

DD had some inexpensive wedding gifts she could not use, so she donated them. I donated a lot of costume jewelry which I was tired of wearing. I bought a watch, a wall picture, a decorative basket of cyclamen and a pretty pitcher.

Try a pizza night with several varietes of toppings.

Toppngs:

1. Ham and pineapple
2. Veggie
3. Buffalo chicken
4. Pepperoni
5. Sausage

For one night, go with bratwurst and hamburger patties for the main meat entre. For bratwurst (if you can find it) go with Johnsonville and/or anything made in Sheboygon, WI.

You could also add a 50/50 raffle. Sell tickets for $1 each or 6 for $5. The winner gets half the money the Legion gets the other half to buy needed items for the veterans in the VA hospital.

What I find is organizations like this don't have a MENU issue, it's a PUBLICITY issue! Personally I would like to find a local organization that would serve "comfort food" in a good portion at a reasonable price and I'd go there often. My local "x" place (I won't name it) has a dinner consisting of a tiny portion at $10 and pushes the drinks on you. I like a drink with my meal but I want a meal that will fill me up. I would so love a GOOD meatloaf, chicken, chili, hot beef, pot roast, etc. dinner to go to. I go to the local "buffet", which I call the hog trough. It's about as good as I can get.... Which reminds me, I sure liked that movie As Good As It Gets!

Oldjoyful..Cow Pie Bingo consists of preselling up to 1000 tickets @$10. The day of...they grid off the ball field in 1000 squares-and have a reference chart of the same. Every hour for 7 hours-the send a cow out on the field..and whichever square he 'does his duty on'..wins that hour's prize..allbeit a $500 savings bond or a cash prize up to the last draw at 7pm for $2000. If by chance old 'bossie happen to drop a cow pie on the line between 2 squares? The official takes his 'golden trowel & cuts both pies & the biggest one wins..GROSS? You betcha'..but lotza' fun!

Meat draws on Saturdays at a lot of the clubs around here do very well. Our Legion has a card night every Wednesday - Euchre and Pepper - open to the public. The bar and kitchen make money.

Our neighbourhood Legion also has a Fish Dinner every Friday and a Steak Barbeque on Saturdays. 50/50 draws. Weekends the crowd comes in to dance to a band that plays the "oldies" Young and old out on the dance floor having a great time. Hard to find a seat at the Knights of Columbus on Friday or Saturday nights.

Anne