The Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School Queen of Hearts raffle saw its third jackpot winner last week, leading the pot to start at $5,000 this week. 

While there is no telling how long it will take to unveil the coveted Queen of Hearts this time, one thing is guaranteed to remain consistent: proceeds go to a good cause. 

This is why Kim Papenberg, the most recent winner, began playing. 

Papenberg said the biggest prize was not the $86,979 jackpot, but the satisfaction of helping a school close to her heart. 

“I’ve never been a big gambler, but when SPPCS started the Queen of Hearts a few years ago I decided I would play,” Papenberg said. “Both of my children graduated from SPPCS and both were athletes. I have fond memories and great friendships made from watching my kids play sports at SPPCS. I hope the money raised from the Queen of Hearts will bless many more athletes and families the same way we were.” 

She picked No. 22 on the board, which revealed the Queen of Hearts card.

As Papenberg said, the fundraiser originally benefited the school’s athletics, but has since expanded to help the school on a larger scale. SPPCS principal Lori Matzenbacher said this change occurred roughly three years ago. 

“There’s a lot of things that get done in the background behind the scenes to be prepared for the actual selling of the tickets and things like that. Originally, it started with the Athletic Booster Club using it as a fundraiser, but that group needed more manpower, if you will, to help run the event. So, we decided to utilize our entire faculty and staff and they work the Queen of Hearts drawing in different capacities in order to make it a school-wide fundraiser,” Matzenbacher said. 

She said the Booster Club brought the raffle to Waterloo after seeing it in other areas. 

“I think it was just something that was popular in the area and our Athletic Booster Club was looking for something new to do to help with fundraising,” Matzenbacher said. “They had heard about the Queen of Hearts and looked into it and decided they were going to start using it as one of their fundraisers.” 

Matzenbacher said the fundraiser currently helps the school in a variety of ways – perhaps the biggest impact being it prevents raising tuition costs. 

“It just basically goes to the general funding of the school,” Matzenbacher said. “It could help with teacher salaries … (and) it just helps with the general running of the school building. All of those things contribute to whether or not we have to raise tuition yearly, so I think that would probably be the biggest benefit because it’s a large fundraiser for us.” 

SPPCS is going on its fifth year of holding the raffle, Matzenbacher said. 

In the past, it had been held at Stubborn German Brewing Co., but now large crowds gather at Outsider Tavern on Tuesday evenings. 

For those unfamiliar with the popular raffle that small towns across Illinois have become enamoured with, it’s a game of chance just as much as it is one of luck. Each round starts with a new board that has 54 playing cards face down, with each card being assigned a number 1-54. Each week, participants register and purchase raffle tickets at $1 each. 

Participants fill out a card with their contact information and are assigned a registration number. A winning registration number is then called, and the corresponding participant then picks a card to flip over. If the Queen of Hearts is revealed, they win the jackpot, which comprises 80 percent of the raffle’s ticket sales. The other 20 percent goes toward the school. 

In case the participant whose number is called is not present, the hosts require each participant to write down the number of the card they wish to flip over. If this card reveals the jackpot and the winner is not present, they are only given half of the jackpot. 

Until the queen is drawn, the pot rolls over into the next week and the jackpot climbs higher. The person whose registration number is called each week automatically wins money for having the winning ticket. 

This process can take as long as 54 weeks, since there is always a chance that a whole deck is gone through before the Queen of Hearts is uncovered. So far, the longest round took approximately 50 weeks and the shortest took 29 weeks, Matzenbacher said. The round that just concluded last Tuesday took 45 weeks. 

Being drawn to pick a card off the board isn’t the only chance participants have to win some extra cash during Queen of Hearts: a 50/50 raffle is also held at the same time.

Matzenbacher said these raffle tickets can be purchased for $1 each or six for $5. 

As its name suggests, winners of the 50/50 raffle keep half the money, while the school keeps the other half. As the Queen of Hearts pot increases, so do 50/50 winnings. 

“People anticipate when the pot is getting larger, so it draws a larger crowd and more participate (in the Queen of Hearts raffle), so therefore more people participate in the 50/50 as well,” Matzenbacher explained. 

The round just completed had been put on hold due to the pandemic. While the 16-month hiatus wasn’t ideal for those eager to uncover the coveted card, Matzenbacher said the pandemic may have contributed to the jackpot being higher once it was finally won. 

“I think after we had to quit doing it because of COVID, everybody seems to have come out and wanted to participate even more,” Matzenbacher said. 

Matzenbacher said the raffle drew “regulars” who played each week. While many of these repeat participants are from Monroe County, Matzenbacher said some came from across the river to play. 

She said she is extremely grateful for all the support this fundraiser has received. 

“It’s absolutely amazing that people continue to come back week after week and help support our school, so we’re very appreciative of that,” Matzenbacher said. 

For articles on past Queen of Hearts rounds, click here.