Organizers of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula’s 34th-annual Auction & Dinner on Nov. 12 call the event a “stellar success,” raising a record $343,000 for the organization.
More than 300 guests attended and bid on auction items from the community and surrounding areas at the club, which transformed from a busy after-school center to a nautically inspired gala with sailboats, life-rings and a giant balloon anchor hanging from the dining room ceiling.
Guests used a new online bidding format for items such as wine packages, bicycles, jewelry, handcrafted quilts and doll clothes, games and certificates from local businesses before moving on to dinner catered by The Cedars at Dungeness.
Young members of the Carroll C. Kendall unit (Sequim) opened the night’s festivities with a skit sharing what the club teaches them at each grade level.
The live auction opened with a “Best of Live” drawing won by Kathie Holst, who selected a boat cruise and dinner on Lake Sutherland for eight people. The popular dessert frenzy followed, raising $8,075 with 14 desserts from local bakers, including Kate McDermott of “Art of the Pie” fame.
Photo by Matt Sagen/Cascadia Films Lena Hanshaw enjoys the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula’s 34th-annual Auction & Dinner on Nov. 12.
The live auction items included trips, meals every month for a year at popular restaurants, a sofa, fireplace, and four tickets to an upcoming Seahawks game taking top bid at $9,750. The event’s Auction Bucks raffle gave $1,000 of credit to the luck winner for spending for the event and Chris Freeman walked away a winner.
Guests were also given the opportunity to “Bid for Kids” and make a gift to the Club to support our after-school programming after hearing from Sequim member and 2022 Youth of the Year, Pearle Peterson. She shared about all the people that have influenced her in her life and sang “I Will Stand By You” receiving a standing ovation. In response, attendees gave $173,000 to support programs, anchoring the keystone fundraiser.
All told, the evening’s festivities raised $343,000 for the organization to set a new record.
The auction is one of three fundraising events that support the Sequim and Port Angeles Boys & Girls Club units, with the newly-added breakfast in March, originally established to support the campaign to build a new Port Angeles Club. Now in its fifth year, the breakfast will be held in the gym of the new building again March 17, for the Great Futures Breakfast and featuring the 2023 Youth of the Year.
