More than 500 tickets have already been sold in an online raffle benefiting Chabad on Campus nationwide.

All of the proceeds gleaned from the $36 tickets will go directly to fund programming; independent donations are covering the cost of the prizes, including a grand prize of $10,000, a video camera and an iPod nano portable media player. Raffle participants can choose whether their ticket will help fund international programs run by the foundation, or activities at any of the more than 100 campus-based Chabad Houses nationwide.

“Through its innovative programming, whether it be the Sinai Scholars Society, the international Shabbaton, the Israelinks educational experience, student leadership retreats or its special holiday campaigns, Chabad on Campus seeks to ensure that college students graduate as stronger and more-empowered Jews,” said Rabbi Yossy Gordon, executive vice president of the Chabad on Campus International Foundation. “In addition, each Chabad House offers a myriad of programs, from weekly Shabbat meals and daily Torah classes to end-of-year parties and inspirational lectures.

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“This raffle will allow Chabad Houses everywhere to expand their already top-notch efforts at providing a home away from home for Jewish students.”

“If you win, you win,” Tzipah Wertheimer, co-director of Chabad of Queens College, told students at the Kew Gardens Hills, N.Y., school. “And if you don’t win, you still win because all proceeds go directly to enhancing Jewish student life at Queens College.”

People can purchase a ticket online at their local Chabad House’s Web site, or if they would like to support the Chabad on Campus foundation directly, by logging on to www.chabad.edu/raffle. Participants need not be present at the drawing, which will take place on July 7 during the annual Chabad on Campus International Conference.