BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The hottest ticket in Indiana this year has been Taylor Swift.
The megastar is performing live in front of expected crowds of 70,000 people for three nights at Lucas Oil Stadium this November. The demand and price around tickets to Swift’s concerts on the resale market are well known, with thousands of fans not being able to secure tickets to the star’s hours-long concerts.
One Bloomington Taylor Swift fan was able to secure tickets in the initial craze when they went on sale more than a year ago. Melissa Colman definitely considers herself a Swiftie.
”She’s just such an icon,” Colman said.
Her quest for tickets started when her entire family banded together to try and make sure her nieces got tickets. Once that happened, they even ended up with another set of tickets. With those, her and her husband planned to go to the first night of Swift’s three performances in Indy.
”I just really kind of started thinking we could do something a little more serious with our seats and have the opportunity to raffle them off and make hopefully some more serious money for Middle Way House,” Colman said.
That is when the Taylor Swift Ticket Raffle was created. After starting just more than two weeks ago, they’ve already sold about 1,000 tickets at $10 apiece.
”It’s amazing but I definitely want to take it further,” Colman said.
100% of the money will go to the Middle Way House. The staff supports survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence and human trafficking. They work with thousands of people each year through their 24/7 crisis hotline and have permanent housing and emergency housing for survivors and their families.
”We really strive to be there through all stages of healing,” said Carrie Stillions, the executive director of Middle Way House.
The most difficult part? Funding all of their services.
“We’ve seen and will continue to see changes in the grant landscape, so we are always working to make sure we stay the most current when diversifying our funding,” said Stillions.
Beyond the fundraising, Stillions is finding the popularity of the tickets leading to more people finding out about Middle Way House.
”Any time we have the opportunity to have this platform to talk about it, raise awareness, it is priceless,” she said.
Stillions said they’re looking to use the money to provide direct support to survivors.
”Utilizing those funds in a way to divert folks from shelters and having to leave their homes is so big,” she said.
The $10,000 already raised for Middle Way House is a huge boost, but Colman has bigger goals in mind with more raffle tickets to sell.
”In my head, I want a $100,000, I want a million for us because that’s what is needed these days,” Colman said.
If you want to buy a raffle ticket, you can purchase one or more in person for $10 each at Middle Way House in Bloomington from 10 a.m. to noon on weekdays, at Venue Fine Arts and Gifts every day they are open and at Morgenstein Books every Sunday from noon to 2 p.m.
The raffle runs until Oct. 1 and the winner will be announced Thursday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. at Switchyard Park.
This will also help kick off Middle Way House’s annual Wrapped in Love public art display. Tree sweaters will be displayed on trees in the heart of Bloomington through the end of the year to raise awareness for domestic violence, sexual violence and human trafficking.
