Casino Night Rakes In Funding For Booster Club

The money that parents, teachers and coaches were gambling with Saturday night may have been fake, but the funds the Greendale Panther Athletic Booster Club raised at their fifth annual Casino Night is certainly real.

The annual event at the Muskego Lakes Country Club in Muskego is one of the booster club's biggest fundraising events annually, second only to their golf outing in June, and brought out more than 125 people to the event, which included dinner, casino games, raffles and a silent auction.

"This is a good opportunity for the parents to get out and socialize with the coaches and teachers who participate, while being away from a school setting with kids," said Steve Placek, who headed the committee for the Casino Night event.

Though an amount raised was not available late Saturday night, Placek said the club donates approximately $75,000 annually for the athletics department at .

The silent auction included a number of autographed sports memorabilia items up for bid, most notably a pair of Conty Stadium seats that were signed by Hank Aaron, Robin Yount, Paul Molitor and others, alongside other items like sports clothing, jewelry and food.

"There are 22 sports teams at the high school, and everyone contributes in some way for this event," said Placek. "Whether it's the raffle or silent auction items, 100 percent of the money raised goes towards helping all the sports teams with things like equipment and uniforms, as well as toward helping with some of the high-end items."

Placek cited the club's donation toward the building of the new football field and baseball diamond as two of the high-end items they helped with recently, while court time for the tennis teams is one of the smaller items they typically help with.

"We have a lot of volunteers who help us out," said booster club president Johnny Gardetto. "We've got a good organization with good people."