Howdy Friends
Thank You,
On behalf of the Poultry Auction Committee and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, I wanted to
thank you for your interest in contributing to help fund the education of Texas Youth. In the last three
years, the Poultry Auction Committee has raised over $5.4 million and with your help, we can
continue our progress and set new records for the 2017 Poultry Auction!
As you may know, The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is one of the greatest events and a
highlight of Houston area social scene. For the 2016 Show, approximately 2.5 million folks
experienced all the Show events and features including Livestock Auctions, School Art Competitions,
Carnival, the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, and of course, RodeoHouston in NRG
Stadium (just to name a few).
What you may not be aware of (and it’s certainly something that can be lost in all of the fun and
excitement of the Show) is that the HLSR is a prominent Non-Profit organization that contributes any
and all profits to funding scholarships, grants, endowments, and other projects to Texas Youth and
Universities.
Since its beginning in 1932, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo has
committed more than $430 million to scholarships, research, endowments,
calf scramble participants, junior show exhibitors, School Art participants,
and other educational youth programs.
As part of the Poultry Auction Committee, I am tasked with raising donations that will go towards the
Junior Market students who raise chickens and turkeys as part of the Livestock Show and Rodeo
competition. Every student who wins a spot in the auction will receive some form of scholarship
money for his or her education. With your help, we can ensure that every year, more scholarships are
handed out and more funding is available for all of these amazing kids.
As you can imagine, this is quite a huge undertaking as and we could never do it without the generous
support from donors like you. Whether it is buying a pen of chickens or a turkey as part of a meat
package or bidding on the Junior Market Grand Champion Pen of Broilers, every dollar helps us
towards our goal of providing a world-class education to every deserving student.
2017 Educational Commitment
SUPPORT
AMOUNT
Scholarships
$14,272,000
Graduate Assistantships
$525,400
Educational Program Grants
$3,614,360
Junior Show Exhibitors
$7,653,750
2017 TOTAL EDUCATIONAL COMMITMENT
$26,065,510
Donation Options
How do I donate?
With the Poultry Auction there are several ways you can donate to our fund. I have broken them
down into three options showcasing the differences between each option
Option 1: Purchase Commitment
The purchase commitment is the best way to get involved in the Auction and see where your
donations go. With a purchase commitment, you are agreeing to spend a certain amount of money
at our Junior Market Poultry Auction. The money will be donated regardless of your attendance so
think of it as purchasing a gift card: you can use this money towards whatever Lot you bid on at the
auction but you can always go higher. Certain levels of commitment will grant you special access to
Poultry Auction Events and special incentives including:
Note: Each level of commitment will also receive the benefits of the preceding commitment.
$300 Commitment (Min)
Allows the HLSR to invoice you and bill you at a later date (final invoicing will be
sent in May after the Auction closes)
$500 Commitment
A personal invite to our Poultry Auction
A personal invite to the Auction Day Breakfast
Premium NRG Parking Pass for day of Auction (Good for all day for RodeoHouston)
For every $500 committed, you can elect to receive a pen (9) of frozen chickens.
$2,000 Commitment
2 Tickets to the Fowl Feathered Cookers BBQ Tent on the special Invite Only
Thursday Night of the World Championship BBQ Contest.
2 Tickets to our Champion Buyers Gala in January of 2018 (The gala is held to honor
all the buyers from the year’s previous Show)
Every one of these events listed above is a great way to see the impact your donation can make.
These events rise in popularity every year and get better every time you participate and meet the
wonderful kids you are supporting.
Donation Options (cont.)
Option 2: Cash Donation
A cash donation is very similar to Purchase Commitment in how the Show handles the donation.
Every dollar contributed under a Cash Donation goes towards the same fund as the Purchase
Commitment. The biggest difference is that the Cash Donation donor receives no benefits other
than the 100% tax write off (of the amount given).
No Galas, no auctions, no chicken pickups… no hassles.
2015 Cash Contributor
This is a great way for folks to contribute when they want to see the maximum amount of money go
towards the kids and the scholarship fund. Some people and organizations do not want to be quite
as involved as others and rather than dealing with some of the issues involving the Gala and
Auction, they elect to step back.
The nice thing about a cash donation is that there is no minimum. However, like a Purchase
Commitment, a minimum of $300 is required in order to be invoiced (as opposed to paying at the
time the donation is made).
Option 3: Poultry Purchase Order
Some folks just enjoy chicken… a lot. Now, these are not the actual chickens or turkeys that are
shown at the Show, but chickens or turkeys that are processed by the Houston Livestock Show &
Rodeo (HLSR). $100 will buy a pen of nine(9) chickens or one(1) turkey.
These meat packages are great to eat and are excellent giveaways to employees, family, and friends.
We gave our employees chickens from the HLSR last year. I was surprised to
see how much everyone enjoyed getting chickens; it made a very nice little
perk for our people. Everyone asked if we were doing it again this year!
2016 ‘Broiler’ Buyer
You can even order these online if you are an HLSR member! Just click my name when prompted if
you were assisted by a committee member.
https://secure.rodeohouston.com/Authentication/index.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fauctions%2findex.as
px%3fauction%3d1023&auction=1023
These will be available for pick up the first two weeks of June. Please allow time to park and to sort
paperwork out. For tips on how to make the best of meat pick-up please just ask.
2016 Look Back
A Look at the 2016 HLSR Numbers…
107
Committees
2.46
Million
Attendees
33,000
Volunteers
$26 Million
for
Education
30,911
Livestock
Entries
$12.35
Million in
Jr. Mkt.
Auctions
Act Now
Thanks once again,
We truly appreciate the time you’ve taken to discover one of the greatest ways to get involved in
supporting youth education. Every one of us on the Poultry Auction Committee cares deeply for this
cause and appreciate everything you can do to help us reach our goals.
Every year we are able to garner more and more support from folks like you and show everyone what
it means to be a Texan and support the future of our kids and our education system. In 2016 alone,
we handed out $638,038 to our exhibitors including a record setting $747.96 in additional premiums
to every student who shoed at the Auction. From there, we generated $744,050 to the HLSR
Education Fund.
Please let me know how we can move forward with your donation and if you have questions about
any of our wonderful events or want to know more about the donation process.
We look forward to seeing you at the 2017 Auction and wish you a blessed year.
Best Regards,
(Name)
(Name)
Poultry Auction Committee
email
phone