One lucky winner of the Drakes Branch Volunteer Fire Department’s (DBVFD) raffle will receive $10,000 in March.

The raffle, hosted in conjunction with Knock Down Hunt Club, will help raise money for the fire department to build a new firehouse, according to DBVFD Chief Kenny Tharpe.

The odds of winning the raffle will be about one in 200, according to Tharpe, as only 200 tickets will be sold.

The tickets are $100 each, said Jason Hudson, a DBVFD member and raffle organizer.

Each ticket comes with dinner for two at the raffle drawing. The dinner will be held at Briery Country Club, located in Keysville, on March 18 at 6 p.m., Hudson said.

There will be opportunities to win a variety of prizes during the dinner, Hudson said, noting participants will be able to enter to win “guns and other stuff.”

Tickets will be sold until March 18.

According to Hudson, this is the first step in the department’s goal to build a new firehouse.

Tharpe agreed. “We gotta start sometime,” he said.

According to Tharpe building a new firehouse is not a small project.

“Our current fire station was built in the 1950s,” he said. “We don’t have enough money in the budget, unless we do something extra, and this raffle is one of those things.”

Hudson said the department has outgrown its current space in Drakes Branch. “The trucks are getting bigger and there’s not space,” noting fire trucks are larger now than they were when the firehouse was built.

Tharpe said volunteers have a hard time getting in and out of the trucks inside the station, and because the firehouse is right near the road, it’s a safety issue to get into the trucks outside of building. 

The building has some structural problems as well, including roof leaks, Tharpe said.

“We’re hoping this will be a yearly thing, because it’s going to be a long time before we’re building,” he said, noting that a new firehouse will cost between $400,000-500,000.

Those interested in purchasing a raffle ticket can contact any member of the Knock Down Hunt Club or DBVFD. They can also contact Jason Hudson at (434) 610-8487.