Bill Bateman's Bistro, home of "Baltimore's Best Wings" hosted the 1st Annual Bill Bateman's Bistro of Havre De Grace - "Ravens Pep-Rally for RAACE" on Thursday January 8th, 2009.

Franchise owner Christian Giansante "man'ed up" in a big way… he decided to stop Child Sexual Abuse with a new twist on the traditional football pep rally. He purchased two great tickets for the 2009 Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida and threw a ‘Baltimore Ravens Playoff Pep-Rally for RAACE’ to raffle off the tickets in an effort to raise funds and awareness about the epidemic of Child Sexual Abuse. 10% of the restaurant’s sales that night also went to The RAACE Foundation.

Beverlee Tertel of Reading, PA was the winner of the tickets. In an amazing gesture, she donated them back to the foundation to auction off on Ebay in hopes of helping raise funds and bring exposure to The RAACE Foundation (Race Against Abuse of Children Everywhere), a Maryland based 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to fighting the epidemic of child sexual abuse through public awareness campaigns and the distribution of educational materials. By utilizing the world’s most popular spectator activity – motorsports, The RAACE Foundation is working hard to alert the public about the prevalence of this horrible epidemic.

The subsequent Ebay auction went to two Steelers fan’s from Louisiana for $3,800 dollars. “We wanted to go to the Super Bowl to help bring our beloved Steelers to Victory. When we saw the article about The RAACE Foundation on the Ebay auction site we decided to purchase this set of tickets no matter what the price. These were the only tickets we bid on. What an awesome way to help a great organization stop Child Sexual Abuse. Thanks to Mrs. Tertel for her generosity and thanks to RAACE for all your doing to raise awareness about this problem”, the winners said before the Steelers beat the Cardinals in one of the best Super Bowls ever!

According to Beverlee: “Helping The RAACE Foundation stop Child Sexual Abuse is a top priority for me and my family. We couldn’t ask for a better opportunity to get the word out to the public about such a worthy charity.” Beverlee Tertel, Bill Bateman’s Bistro of Havre De Grace, MD and The RAACE Foundation want you to know that it will take courage, determination and the efforts of many like you to make a difference in the fight against child sexual abuse. Please support Bill Bateman’s Bistro, at 2021 Pulaski Highway, Havre de Grace, MD 21078, 410-939-7667 as they continue to support The RAACE Foundation with fun and exciting fundraising events. The next Bill Bateman’s Bistro of Havre De Grace event is Friday March 13th as we hold the first of several Rally for RAACE pre-registration parties. Don’t miss out on guest bartenders Ken Smith, Founder and Brad Brickel, Director that evening from 7 – 9 pm.

There are an estimated 39 million survivors of child sexual abuse that exist in America today. Statistics indicate that 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 7 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18. Only when the problem of sexual abuse is faced openly can we hope to protect our children. To learn more about how abuse happens and how to protect our children, please visit www.raace.org to learn more about dining with Bill Bateman’s Bistro please visit www.billbateman.com.