The ever-popular Queen of Hearts game in Waterloo has proven to be quite a successful fundraiser for Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School, with a long-awaited renovation to the gym finally underway thanks to support from the community.

With folks regularly gathering at Outsider tavern in downtown Waterloo on Tuesday nights, the game has boomed in popularity in recent years as the jackpot regularly balloons to six figures. 

Ticket sales for the game are split, with 80 percent contributing to the jackpot and 20 percent going to the school to cover a variety of projects and needs at SPPCS.

Though proceeds contribute to the school in general now, former SPPCS Athletic Director John Green recalled how the game originally came together in order to support the school’s athletic program in specific.

Green spoke about getting the game started back in 2017, working with Joanie Steibel and Dave and Tim Meehan. Discussions among the group turned to several Queen of Hearts games which were going on in communities outside Monroe County, and it seemed to be a good fit to help pay for coach stipends, uniforms and other department necessities.

“The reason why I started it was because I needed to fund the athletic department for SPPS,” Green said. “There was no money that was allocated for athletics through the church or school in their budget, so I had to produce revenue any way I could.”

The first game took place at Stubborn German, though Green said the idea of moving the game around was floated in order to bring the crowd to a number of businesses.

It was fairly successful from the start, with that first jackpot reaching $92,390 after 45 weeks.

On top of paying for the SPPCS athletic department’s needs, Green said he hoped for some of the proceeds to also pay for renovations to the school’s gym ceiling.

“It did pretty well,” Green said. “My original goal was to fund my athletic department and also do some improvements on the school gym. We always wanted to do the ceiling inside the school gym because it was rather unsightly and just wasn’t what we would consider a nice gym on the interior.”

SPPCS Principal Lori Matzenbacher also spoke about how the school’s gym has been in need of renovations for a while now.

“For the longest time, our gym just in general has lacked any kind of maintenance project just because of the size and the amount of money,” Matzenbacher said. “The cost has kind of kept us from updating where we needed to update at.”

The success of the Queen of Hearts game in the past few years has finally allowed for the funding necessary to get that project off the ground.

With other Queen-funded projects taking place around the school such as an outdoor pavilion classroom space and an awning for the front of the building, Matzenbacher also pointed out that the ceiling isn’t the only part of the gym that’s receiving attention.

The gym has already received a new roof as well as exterior paneling to replace some of the old windows. More work in the space is also planned.

“Once they get the ceiling done, we’ll redo the gym floors that we do every other year, and then they’re also going to do the foyer floors of the gym because of the cracks,” Matzenbacher said.

Green expressed his appreciation for the work being done, saying that “The improvements for the school with the money that’s being raised from the Queen of Hearts has been a wonderful thing and a blessing for all.”

Matzenbacher, as she’s done several times in the past few years given the attendance at the game’s drawings, offered great thanks to the community for the support as well to the volunteers and school faculty and staff who keep the game running smoothly each Tuesday.

“We especially want to thank the people in the community and all those who participate in the Queen of Hearts,” Matzenbacher said. “Without the fundraiser, it would have been very challenging for us to complete these projects. We just appreciate everyone’s support in continuing to stick with us and play the game. I know that it’s often seen as a time for people to gather together in the downtown area, and it’s just really nice to see the community come together and show their support.