Bryan Elges attended a Rotary Club of Ashland meeting in May where his daughter Gabriella was  awarded a $1,500 scholarship.

During the meeting,  the club’s fireworks chair, Mitch Piskur, pitched the club’s annual Fireworks Super Raffle fundraiser. Elges bought one of the $100 tickets.

It was a great investment. His ticket was pulled on July 4th as the winner of the $4,100 pot in the 50-50 raffle.

“The Rotary Club gave my daughter an outstanding award, so I thought I would make a donation back.  I happened to have a $100 bill in my wallet, so I pulled it out. I got it back and more,” said Elges, who says he likes to buy local and support projects of local organization.

Elges says when Piskur called to tell him he was a winner, he first thought it was a joke.

Gabriella is a recent graduate of Ashland High School and the Career Center, and will be attending North Central State College to study nursing.When asked about his plans for this winnings, the proud father said he and Gabriella went to Best Buy and picked out a “very nice laptop” for her to take to college.

The Rotary Club of Ashland has produced Ashland’s July 4th fireworks for more than 40 years. The Super Raffle is one piece of the fundraising efforts for the annual celebration, including the William Roepke and William Buckingham Fireworks Endowment Fund.

Rotary Fireworks Chair Mitch Piskur (right)  presents a $4,100 check to Bryan Elges, who had the winning ticket in the Rotary Club’s annual 50-50 Fireworks Super Raffle.