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A handful of people were present for the Lakota West band raffle drawing, but luck had it that Kelly O'Brien was one of them.

The 1999 Lakota East graduate won the $42,000 grand prize, and event organizers said the money would help the 26-year-old with graduate school expenses.

Not enough tickets were sold by the August deadline to raffle off a $400,000 home, but the band did sell $150,000 in tickets.

"It is the single biggest fundraiser that we have had," said Peter Bartram, president of the Lakota West Upbeat Club. "The girl who won it is really sweet."

He said the event was

emotional for the two dozen individuals present, and all felt pleased the money went to someone who had need and who was part of the band community.

"What happened that day is so much of what we're about," Bartram said. "It's all about the kids."

Money raised will go toward scholarships to defray the $1,700 per-student cost for the week-long trip to Pasadena.

"We learned a lot of lessons from our experience," Bartram said. "We got started about six months too late, and I believe the economy worked against us to a certain degree. I also think our price point for the tickets was too high. Unfortunately, the lower the price the higher number of tickets have to be sold. Since we didn't make the numbers we expected, we will continue to have to aggressively fundraise for the remainder of the year."

Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5067 or lhilty@coxohio.com.