Employment Security staff and partners from as far south as Lewis County and as far north as Snohomish converged at Auburn’s Brannan Park on the last Saturday in August to battle it out for trophies and help children at the third annual State Combined Fund Drive Softball Tournament.

The group raised more than $1,300 for Seattle Children’s through team entry fees, raffle sales and barbecue lunch tickets. The Combined Fund Drive is Washington’s workplace giving program for active and retired public employees. State and higher education employees give to the charity of their choice through payroll contribution and agency fundraising events.

WorkSource offices throughout the state partner with other state agencies to provide job search and other services to individuals seeking new job opportunities – and while they work together on a regular basis, their competitive spirit was on full display at the softball tournament.

Ultimately, the Department of Social and Health Services All-Stars claimed the championship with an exciting 11-9 win over the Auburn Department of Corrections. Teams from Work Source Affiliate Auburn, Work Source Rainier, the Secretary of State’s Office and the Employment Security Department Information Technology & Business Integration division each played four games. The two teams with the best records battled it out for the championship.

Employment Security’s Combined Fund Drive leader, Jeanne Lenz, begins planning for the tournament as early as March, pulling together staff from throughout the agency as well as agency partners to handle a variety of tasks – from preparing the food to selling raffle tickets to developing the team brackets.

She expects this tradition to continue with a great tournament next summer.

“This is a great way to bring Employment Security and our partners together for a good cause,” Jeanne said. “Every year, more teams participate.”

Lenz and her committee worked hard to pull together outstanding raffle prizes from local businesses – and each team brought a raffle item to donate.

Raffle donors included:

Combined Fund Drive/Seattle Mariners: Two 100 Level Mariner tickets

Logo Girlz: 72 Baseball caps and shirts for teams

SunBreak Café Auburn: Five meal gift certificates

Trotters Restaurant: $25 gift certificate

Teriyaki 2 U Auburn: Five $20 gift certificates

Athens Pizza Auburn: $20 gift card

Frugals 4 Auburn: Two $10 gift cards

Red Lotus: $50 gift card

Rio Blanco Mexican Restaurant: Four $10 gift certificates

Krazy Klay Ceramics: Five pieces of ceramic

Teriyaki W4K: $10 gift certificate

Starbucks North: Five mugs, 2 canisters tea, infuser

Jersey Mike’s Subs: 30 sub cards

Doug & Tiffany Hargreaves: $100 gift cards

Janelle Guthrie: Four Starbucks gift cards

Several other local businesses contributed food/funds for the barbecue lunch which included grilled hot dogs, chips, chili and water.

Fred Meyer

Haggens Market Fresh

Costco

Sam’s Club Outlet Collection

Starbucks Outlet Collection

Safeway Auburn