Big Brothers Big Sisters of Long Island Holds Annual Boat Raffle Online

Big Brothers Big Sisters Long Island is raffling off a 2020 Sportsman's 232 Open Center Console Fishing Boat as a fundraiser for the mentoring organization.

Annually, the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Long Island runs a fishing tournament as a fundraiser at Oaklands in Hampton Bays. Because of the coronavirus crisis, the 20th anniversary tournament has been postponed until next year.

“I founded this event in 2001 because I personally understood mentoring children,” said Scott Horowtiz, the tournament’s chairman, who also serves as a Southampton Town Trustee. “I believe in it, I understand how important it is to have programs like this.”

Mr. Horowitz also said the tournament is one of the biggest sources of funds for the organization.

In years past, the fudraiser has been a great success, with a party at Oaklands featuring a silent auction. Some of the fishermen in the tournament would spend up to nine days fishing offshore in hopes of getting the biggest catch.

"Every year, we get a boat in coordination with the manufacturer and White Water," said Mr. Horowitz.

Big Brothers Big Sisters is one of the oldest mentoring organizations in the country. The organization helps form relationships that last years and years. Currently, “bigs” are connecting with their “littles” via zoom, text and phone calls as ways to support each other during this time, Mr. Horowitz noted.

Members of Big Brothers Big Sisters found that some families were struggling to get computers for students, so the organization worked to get computers to the families so that the children could succeed during distance learning.

However, the organization comes with a lot of overhead, and a large chunk of its revenue comes from donated clothing. According to Mr. Horowitz, “there are hundreds of thousands of pounds of clothes that can't be moved,” because of the crisis.

To support the organization, the annual boat raffle is being held online, with a virtual drawing on August 23.

Tickets are $100 each and only 1,000 tickets will be sold. Tickets can be purchased at bbbsli.org/event/2020-boat-raffle-ticket.