Arcata Rotaries launch Adventure Raffle for local weekend hunger relief
Two Arcata Rotary clubs put $25 raffle tickets toward weekend food for nearly 600 Humboldt County children each week, with a drawing set for June 20.
Two Arcata Rotary clubs have launched a fundraiser that turns raffle tickets into weekend meals for local children. The Rotary Club of Arcata Sunrise and the Rotary Club of Arcata are backing the 2026 Adventure Raffle, with proceeds going directly to Food for People’s Backpacks for Kids Weekend Hunger Relief Program.
The need is not abstract. Food for People says Backpacks for Kids sends home a bag of kid-friendly food on Fridays during the school year, with enough for breakfast, lunch and dinner for two days. The program serves nearly 600 children each week at 37 Humboldt County schools, and the food bank says 61% of county children are eligible for free or reduced-cost school meals.
Tickets cost $25 each, and the number of tickets is limited. The drawing is scheduled for Saturday, June 20 at 5:45 p.m., and ticket holders do not need to be present to win. The fundraiser is also tied to a charity social at Baywood Golf & Country Club in Arcata, where the evening includes live music, a complimentary taco bar, happy-hour beer and wine, a no-host cocktail bar, a putting green contest, a silent auction and a Dutch raffle.
The prize packages are built to draw attention beyond the usual local raffle. The top New Zealand trip includes a 10-day stay on Moturoa Island in a private wildlife refuge, with a furnished three-bedroom home for up to six guests. Other packages include a San Francisco getaway with Giants tickets, hotel accommodations and food, along with a river-adventure package that includes an inflatable tube and Kokatat gear.
The raffle also highlights the scale of the hunger-relief network it is feeding. Food for People says it serves more than 21,000 people each month, distributed 2.4 million pounds of food last year, and that 36% of that food was fresh produce. The organization operates 23 pantries across a 4,000-square-mile region and says it is the designated food storage facility for Humboldt County during disasters or emergencies.
Food for People was founded in 1979 and reopened its new building at 307 W. 14th Street in Eureka in June 2023 after evacuating its old warehouse in February 2020 because of a sewer-related infrastructure failure. That history helps explain why local partnerships still matter. In a county where weekend hunger remains a recurring problem, the raffle is aimed at a simple result: put more food in backpacks, and more children into school on Monday ready to learn.
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