Gateway Bank & Trust in Ringgold was pleased to announce the success of their recent “Help Build Ringgold” raffle and auction, whose generous proceeds of $7,500 were donated to the local Catoosa Organization Acting in Dis-aster (COAD).

Gateway’s efforts went to help the organization reach its $750,000 goal to meet the needs of area families affected by the April 27 tornado. COAD chair Phil Ledbetter was present to receive the donation and said the auction would aid tremendously in the efforts of the organization to put families back into homes.

Since officially forming several weeks after the disaster, COAD has assisted over 160 families through coordinat-ing the many ongoing aspects of recovery including assessment, case management, assistance and repair/ rebuild-ing. COAD is currently working on eight houses as total rebuilds.

“It takes about $45,000 per house to purchase materials,” said Ledbetter. “Homeowners must use all funds given from insurance, FEMA grants and disaster loans toward the costs of rebuilding before COAD addresses their unmet needs.”

The auction was held Nov. 4-13 and offered prizes such as NASCAR and SEC sport items, a quilt called ‘Delecta-ble Mountains’ from the quilters of Ringgold United Methodist Church, several baskets highlighting local busi-nesses and their merchandise, luxury travel packages and sports items featuring SEC football and NASCAR. Aside from the items auctioned, there were $5 raffle tickets sold and drawn for items such as a 42-inch 3D HD TV, a signed Josh Turner guitar and a signed Dan Marino football.

Mary Carpenter, vice president of marketing at Gateway, was very happy with the outcome of the auction.

“All of us at Gateway are very glad to help out the citizens in need,” said Carpenter. “We hope it will help bring some normalcy back into their lives. I want to thank everyone for participating in the auction and raffle. It brought a lot of excitement and we enjoyed all the buzz about it. Thanks to everyone!”