Miss America FUNdraiser

The Miss America Party is a premier FUNdraising event in eastern Virginia. The idea for this FUNdraising event, which parallels the actual pageant, began as the brain child of three civic minded friends in the Williamsburg area. These individuals devised the evening as a way to support local charities, while having a fun time doing so. What began as a champagne and dessert venue in a private home (with 55 guests) over 10 years ago has evolved into an evening of pageantry, humor and entertainment that now boasts an attendance of 250 guests (some who attend, regularly, from as far away as Florida and New York).

Quite simply, the FUNdraiser begins as the ‘contestants' arrive and the first fifty-three guests ‘represent’ a state for the evening. As the crowd watches the televised Miss America pageant, and the pageant eliminations take place, so do the eliminations take place with our ‘contestants’. Our eliminations mirror the real-time pageant until the winner is announced. ‘Our’ Miss America wins a very special prize — a weekend stay in Washington, D.C., along with fine dining and other prizes.

Our winners have included a physician, a grandmother, and many other surprised and worthy participants.

With our FUNdraiser, generous individual and corporate sponsors donate gifts ranging from jewelry, electronics, trips, entire vacation stays, paintings, tools, artwork, clothing, gift cards, etc.. As contestants and guests enter our venue, they purchase raffle tickets. These tickets are then selected at random throughout the evening. After being called, each ticket winner makes their selection FROM ANY AVAILABLE PRIZE. This way, every winner receives a prize they are assured to want! This unique selection process has proven to be very popular with the guests, and encourages increased ticket sales, which provides increased funds to be donated to the respective local charities.

To date, the Miss America Party has donated over $150,000 to local charities, to include ACCESS Aids Care, Beyond Boobs, Dreamcatchers, and the Williamsburg Aids Network. The Kip Kephart Foundation is proud to be a continuing sponsor of the FUNdraiser, and encourages all who want a fun evening to come, enjoy, and donate!