The Idaho Lottery hosted the most successful series of events for Scratch for Schools in the program’s 24 year history. Exactly 500 schools competed in one of 11 events, from the small intimate venue of the Cambridge Fire Station to the mega-sized event with 108 schools at the Ford Idaho Center.

Originally slated for just 10 events, when US 95 between Council and New Meadows was shut down due to the road being washed away, the schools in Council and Cambridge could no longer attend their scheduled event in McCall without undertaking a 3 ½ hour, 195 mile journey each way. The Lottery responded to help the schools by quickly scheduling an event in the a community room/kitchen area of the Cambridge Volunteer Fire Department facility.

Like each year, teams of three compete to win prizes. However, sometimes, teams of two can be successful. Without a team leader, and one of their participants in a cast for a broken left-elbow, the team from McCall-Donnelly High School in McCall successfully won the day’s event by scratching 191 of the 200 tickets in their pack!

Several schools won close to $1,000, including Sawtooth Elementary in Twin Falls, Spirit Lake Elementary in Coeur d’Alene, Sandpoint High School in Sandpoint, Hawthorne Middle School in Pocatello, and Barbara Morgan Elementary in McCall. Seven Oaks Elementary in Eagle, though, rose above the others to claim $1,172 during the event in Boise to become one of the largest winners in Scratch for Schools history.