22 prizes, tickets from $5: the AWNY raffle is back

Every year the Australian Women in New York crew turn up to the Big Aussie BBQ and quietly make the day better. Every year. And every year they bring a raffle that is, frankly, embarrassingly good for a free event on a lawn.

This year they have outdone themselves: 22 prizes, with a combined value north of $3,800, and tickets start at $5.

Every dollar goes to AWNY — a volunteer-run organisation that connects and supports Australian women across this city. No staff, no overheads to speak of, just people giving up their evenings to build something for the community. Buying a strip of tickets is about the easiest way there is to back that.

How to buy tickets

Tickets are on sale now, online, and they will be on sale all day at the BBQ — find the AWNY tent.

• 1 ticket — $5

• 3 tickets — $10

• 8 tickets — $20

• 20 tickets — $50

• 50 tickets — $100

Buy online at go.rallyup.com/awny.

The prizes

The top of the list is genuinely serious:

• RATIONALE skincare basket — the Essential Six kit, valued at $703. Donated by RATIONALE.

• Camilla $500 voucher plus a clutch — valued at $600. A private styling session with champagne at the Madison Avenue boutique, $500 to spend, and a Camilla clutch to take home.

• Glasshouse Paradise Screensaver basket — valued at $450. Perfumes, body creams and candles from the limited summer collection.

• Jets v Giants preseason game — valued at $300. Two tickets to the local showdown at MetLife on August 28.

• Othership 5-class pack — valued at $285. Sauna and ice bath at the modern bathhouse.

• KOVE Studio $200 spa voucher — and there are two of these. Sauna, cold plunge, compression and red-light recovery.

And then it keeps going: a Tiffany & Co candle ($150), a Ferrero Rocher basket ($140), four bottles of Australian wine ($120), two tickets to the Australian Theatre Festival ($120), Anthropologie jewellery ($100), two merino sleep masks hand-crafted in Brooklyn ($100), a slab of Bondi Lager ($80), an America Josh cap and Aussie candy bundle ($80), a Bluey lunch box set ($70), a Glasshouse candle ($45), and Bluey and Bingo plush toys ($16).

There are also three signed books, all by authors connected to this community: Sally Hepworth's Mad Mabel, Astrid Jorgensen's Average At Best (of Pub Choir fame), and Jennifer Harris's Paris Locked.

Two prizes are listed as priceless, and I have to admit both are mine: a Treats From Oz hamper stacked with Tim Tams, Milo, Vegemite, BBQ Shapes and Minties — and a Bunnings straw hat. If you have to ask, you already want it.

You do not have to be there to win

Worth knowing, because people always ask: you do not need to be standing there when it is drawn. Winners are contacted by email afterwards, and prizes can be collected in NYC or shipped, depending on the prize.

So if you have to duck off early — or you are reading this from somewhere that is not Rockefeller Park — you can still buy tickets and still win.

A word about AWNY

This is the part that matters. Australian Women in New York have backed this barbecue every single year, and they do it the same way they do everything else: volunteers, on their own time, because they think it is worth doing.

Look down the donor list on that raffle page and you will notice how many of the prizes came from AWNY's own committee members — the President, the Secretary, the Events team, the Partnerships lead. They did not just organise a raffle. They went out and filled it themselves.

Go and see them at the AWNY tent tomorrow. Buy a strip of tickets. They have earned it.

Tickets: go.rallyup.com/awny · More about AWNY: australianwomeninnewyork.org