Owners of Ken’s Man’s Shop in Preston Royal Shopping Center — that’s Lake Highlands resident Ken Helfman and his son Kory Helfman of East Dallas — are giving away two tickets to Super Bowl XLV in a raffle with relatively good odds, and they aim to make big money for charity in the process.
These guys regularly raise money for the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children and the Bill Hunt Scholarship Fund, both of which are dear to the retailers’ hearts, but this time, they are doing it bigger than ever, they say.
Beginning Thursday, Ken’s will sell 1,964 (for the year the store opened) raffle tickets at $200 each for a chance to win the prize that includes a pair of tickets, pre-game brunch for two prepared by celebrity chef Dean Fearing, a Lincoln Town Car ride to and from the game, and a signed/framed Troy Aikman jersey.
“We figured this Super Bowl was going to be the biggest sporting event Dallas has ever seen, and I wanted to find a way to make it work for these charities,” Ken says.
He loves Scottish Rite Hospital, he says, because they have never charged for a surgery. Ken worked as a volunteer there years ago, and says the experience changed his life. The Bill Hunt Scholarship Fund is in memory of Ken’s first employee, a Garland High School student.
“His reputation brought people into Ken’s. People would say, ‘If Bill works here, it must be a good place.’” When he was still a relatively young man, Hunt had a mental breakdown and eventually took his own life. Along with Bill’s family, Ken started the scholarship fund at Bill’s Garland class’s 20th reunion and they have presented scholarships to Garland High School in Bill’s name every year since.
The raffle kickoff “tailgate party” is Thursday, Sept. 16 at Ken’s Man Shop, 309 Preston Royal Center, from 5 p.m.-8 p.m. Lee Roy Jordon will draw the winner in early January. It’s for a worthy cause and, judging by the first game, your chances of making it to the 2011 Super Bowl might be better than our team’s. Ooo. I know. That stung.
Look for an interview with the Helfmans, who have been dressing Dallas men for some 45 years, in the October Advocate, coming soon to a doorknob near you.
