Spent 10 and got 20 back plus a prize! Silent auction and helping a charity fun!

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A friend of mine belongs to the Monsonic Lodge in my old home town. I look for any event or reason to stop by my old town. She said they were raising funds for a good cause and having a "Chinese" Auction which is an auction where people and businesses donate stuff and you buy tickets. You write your name on the back of the tickets. They put a bowl, basket, cup or paper bag (last one in this case) with the name of the item on the container or the number (in this case the last one). You put your ticket in the receptical. Later on, they draw a ticket and that person wins. This place was sooo cool. They had about 44 silent auction items and about 20 door prizes. I bought tickets. The deal was 8 tickets for $5.00. Normally only 6 for 5, but these are hard times and I notice they're (organizations in general) giving people more chances lately to encourage people to spend money. They started picking for door prizes. I was the third one picked. They let us pick what we wanted so getting picked toward the beginning was great! I picked a 20$ gift certificate for a food store-Yando's Big M. I'm sooo happy. Then the silent auction happened. Time after time, they named people off and it wasn't me. I had gone around last and put my ticket in bags that only had one to three,4, or 5 tickets in (that's my winning strategy, got all my X-mas presents for my family that way one year). So I sat and waited. Time and time again, they called other people. Ok, no big deal, they were the prizes with tons of tickets in. So patiently waited for the not-so-popular items. Here's one where I have a 50% chance. Went to someone else. Here's one where I have a 33.33% chance, went to someone else. 20%, to someone else. Another 33, nope, someone else. Another 50% and my name, yeah! Two beer steins from the Antique and Variety Mall. All right! At the end, I learned that they raise money for a Nursing Home and for a grant for one person each year who is down on his or her luck. Glad I donated. So my questions to you are: Have you been to any fun raisers lately? Have you been to someplace new (Monsonic Lodge was new to me)? Have you participated in any charity auctions? Have you ever won anything neat? Do you have a strategy or do you just bid on what you like? Anything else that is pertinent is fine.