The American Red Cross Ohio Valley Chapter is currently selling tickets for the fourth-annual Disaster Blaster charity event and raffle, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., March 16 at the Southern Ohio Medical Center Friends Center, 1202 18th St., Portsmouth.

“This is probably our biggest fundraiser of the year,” said office coordinator Corvella Evans. “And we hope to take in more than our ticket sales during the event.”

Tickets for two are $50 per ticket and only 200 tickets are available.

“We will be enjoying hors d'oeuvres, music and dancing, with music provided by Doc Roc and The Remedies,” Evans said.

Evans said every 10th ticket wins cash, and the last five tickets are cash winners with a grand prize of $2,000.

“We draw through every ticket we have,” Evans said.

Cash-winners do not need to be present, but door-prize winners must be present to win.

Evans said tickets can be ordered by calling the Red Cross chapter house at (740) 354-3293.

“If they want to send a check, we will mail their tickets to them, or if someone wants tickets, we will drop them off to them at their home or business,” Evans said. “I have done that for four years now, so I will make sure everyone gets their tickets.”

Checks should be made payable to: American Red Cross, and may be sent to the American Red Cross, 614 Glover St., Portsmouth, Ohio, 45662.

The local chapter's fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30, and the budget for 2007 is $268,000. One of the largest uses of Red Cross services is house fires. When they respond, Red Cross has three primary goals - food, shelter and clothing.

Other expenditures include blood drives, lifesaving/CPR training and training volunteers to respond to disasters.