For the first time since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCRA Government Relations Department sponsored its Gift Basket Extravaganza, a raffle to benefit the Association’s Political Action Committee (PAC). This is the third year for the Gift Basket Extravaganza raffle.
This year the raffle drew more contributors than in past years and raised more than $4,400 – an amount exceeding any previous PAC gift basket raffle. Twenty-seven unique baskets were donated to support the fundraising event held at the Association’s 2022 Convention & Expo that took place in Orlando, Fla.
Baskets were donated by the following:
- California Court Reporters Association
- Colorado Court Reporters Association
- Connecticut Court Reporters Association
- Deposition Reporters Association of California
- Florida Court Reporters Association
- Georgia Court Reporters Association
- Indiana Court Reporters Association
- Iowa Court Reporters Association
- Kansas Court Reporters Association
- Kentucky Court Reporters Association
- Maryland Court Reporters Association
- Massachusetts Court Reporters Association
- Michigan Association of Professional Court Reporters
- Minnesota Association of Verbatim Reporters & Captioners
- Mississippi Court Reporters Association
- Nebraska Court Reporters Association
- Ohio Court Reporters Association
- Oklahoma Court Reporters Association
- Oregon Court Reporters Association
- Pennsylvania Court Reporters Association
- Tennessee Court Reporters Association
- Texas Court Reporters Association
- Virginia Court Reporters Association
- West Virginia Shorthand Reporters Association
- Washington Court Reporters Association
- Wisconsin Court Reporters Association
- Wyoming Professional Court Reporters Association
Items ranged from bottles of wine, freshly baked cookies, Mega Millions lottery tickets, assortments of tasty snacks, specialty coffee, kitchenware, sports merchandise, to other unique items that reflected each association’s pride for their state.
According to Jocelynn Moore, NCRA’s Director of Government Relations, the basket donated by the Maryland Court Reporters Association included food and alcohol items flavored with Maryland’s classic Old Bay Seasoning, while the Texas Court Reporters Association participated with a basket filled with food items, books, and other fun things reminiscent of Texas and noted that “Everything is bigger in Texas!” Another innovation was put in place by the Florida Court Reporters Association, the Oklahoma Court Reporters Association, and the Oregon Court Reporters Association, which creatively packaged their baskets in backpacks and large handbags that allowed the winners to easily carry the contents home.
Other notable baskets were the ones from Tennessee, which included bottles of Tennessee’s finest whiskey, and the Wisconsin Court Reporters Association, which offered to ship homemade gourmet cookies to the home of its winner.
“I am overwhelmed by the effort put forth by the many affiliated state associations that donated baskets to our annual NCRA PAC Gift Basket Extravaganza and the members who contributed to the fundraiser,” Moore said. “In a midterm election year that’s critical for our professions, our state associations and member contributors showed up when we needed them to!
“With their help, we raised the most amount of funds we have ever raised since hosting the NCRA PAC Gift Basket Extravaganza. This is a huge success for NCRA PAC, and I’m hoping that we take this momentum into the November midterm election,” she added.
NCRA Government Relations would also like to thank members of the NCRA PAC Governing Board Shaunise Day, Isaiah Roberts, RPR, and Margary Rogers, RPR, CRI, for their dedication and help with the annual NCRA PAC Gift Basket Extravaganza.
