The final tally was for the Facebook poll was 2,963 votes for the Butler group and 2,916 for the Pittsburgh group, according to Audray Muscatello Yost, who is a member of the Golden Tornado Scholastic Foundation.

A Butler County charity program is the champion of a sports-like bracket competition, winning more than a thousand dollars in prize money.

The Kid's Weekend Backpack Program, sponsored by the Golden Tornado Scholastic Foundation, vied against other charity organizations on social media in a bracket style contest akin to March Madness.

The public was invited to vote for their charity of choice and whichever organization had the most votes would move on to the next round. After going to the final round last week, the Kid's Weekend Backpack Program faced off against Paws Across Pittsburgh.

The final tally was 2,963 votes for the Butler group and 2,916 for the Pittsburgh group, according to Audray Muscatello Yost, who is a member of the Golden Tornado Scholastic Foundation. The reward money of $1,500 could be turned into 7,500 meals for the Butler Area School District students.

“I woke up at 4 a.m., checked the numbers and I was too excited to go to sleep. At the last minute they were really close to us,” Yost said. “We won by half a percent. It was really close.”

Clearview Federal Credit Union started Clearview Craziness several weeks ago, pitting 16 charities against each other in the bracketed competition. Each week, people were invited to vote for one charity and the ones with the most votes made their way to the next round.

This is an excerpt from a larger article that will appear in Wednesday's Butler Eagle. Subcribe online or in print to read the full article.