The Rotary Club of Joliet’s 2025 Cash Raffle kicks off Tuesday with proceeds benefitting the swimming pool wall at Boys & Girls Club of Joliet.

Prizes are $10,000 first prize (one winner), $1,000 second prize (five winners) and $500 third prize (two winners).

The raffle began in 1984, and in recent years the Rotary Club of Joliet has donated more than $1 million to local nonprofits, according to its website. A complete list of those nonprofits is on the club’s website.

The club’s efforts typically raise about $60,000 each year.

In 2010, the raffle funded a new gym floor at the Boys & Girls Club in Joliet – and then in 2021, the raffle funded $25,000 of that same club’s pool restoration and renovation.

And in 2024, Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow and Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy each donated $10,000 to operate and maintain the club’s 12-foot, Olympic-sized pool.

However, the pool’s wall facing Eastern Avenue is currently boarded up due to its “deteriorating wood, glass panels and framing” – all beyond repair, according to Rotary’s website.

Renovating that wall “will enhance energy efficiency, natural lighting and community aesthetics and provide a strong barrier to potential vandalism and inclement weather,” according to Rotary’s website.

Chantel Gamboa, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Joliet, said in 2024 that the club uses the pool for safety programs and swimming lessons.

Gamboa previously said many families can’t provide those opportunities.

“The biggest thing is ensuring we continue to update and ensuring what we’re providing is safe for our kids when they’re with us,” Gamboa previously said.

D’Arcy said in 2024 that every child should have the opportunity to learn to swim. So that pool should be “up and running all the time for them,” he added.

Glasgow said in 2024 that the pool helps kids build their self-esteem, confidence and networks of people who will “help them succeed later on in life.”

“The key to all of this is, if you give kids a good home, a good environment and good parents, then the rest will take care of itself,” Glasgow previously said. “But these kids live in very different situations many times. So having this outlet to go to the pool, have fun for the day, get educational opportunities there, keeps them off the street. And then that opens up doors for them down the road.”

The 2025 Cash Raffle runs through noon Oct. 21. Each entry must be accompanied by a $100 payment via cash, check payable to Joliet Rotary Club #78 Charities, or Venmo @JolietRotary.

Winners will be drawn live during the Rotary Club of Joliet’s 12:15 pm meeting at the Jacob Henry Mansion – and then notified via email or phone within 24 hours of the drawing.

To purchase tickets, visit jolietrotary.org. For more information, visit bgcjoliet.com.