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Crisis Center benefit auction raises more than $30,000 |
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Friday, 20 April 2007 |
By KRISTIN REICHARDT
Staff Writer
There are good people in Auglaize County — at least Cridersville Fire Department Emergency Medical Technician Jill Barnes says she thinks so.
St. Marys firefighter Dave Lunz said he thinks so as well.
And a representative of the Auglaize County Crisis Center said she thinks the county residents are extremely supportive following the estimated $34,000 raised at the 19th Annual Auglaize County Crisis Center Benefit Auction.
“The community was very generous,” auction coordinator Tracy Klosterman said after Thursday night’s auction.
“Everything just went very smoothly.”
An estimated 350 people filled the Junior Fair Building at the Auglaize County Fairgrounds, leaving standing room only an hour into the event.
Bidders vied to purchase their choice among the 239 items for auction. Leading up to the auction, Klosterman said she believed the selection of autographed sports memorabilia, such as a No. 10 jersey signed by Ohio State Buckeyes’ quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith and a football signed by fellow Buckeyes Antonio Pittman, a running back, and Antonio Gonzales, a wide receiver, would sell the highest.
The Smith jersey sold for $800, and the Gonzales-autographed photograph sold for $200.
Other high-selling items included NASCAR tickets to Bristol — two tickets to the Busch race and two tickets to the Nextel Cup race — with a price tag of $500 and a hog roast for up to 200 people, donated by Schaub Excavation, Oinker Acres and Walter & Sons Meats, which sold for $800.
The Crisis Center’s Quilt of Hope sold for $600. The couple who purchased the quilt, where each square is created by a survivor of domestic violence or his or her family and advocates, donated the blanket for use at the center, Klosterman said.
One of the surprises, and highlights, of the evening, Klosterman said, was when the Auglaize County Sheriff’s Office called in and put Auglaize County Sheriff Al Solomon up for sale for eight hours of hard labor at the highest bidder’s home — the highest bidder put up $1,002.
“It was very entertaining,” Klosterman said. “He had no idea that he was being put up for bid.
“He worked the crowd,” she said. “He had fun with it.”
Seven area fire departments held a chili cook-off coinciding with the auction, allowing attendees to taste-test each department’s chili and giving them an opportunity to vote for their favorite recipe by putting a dollar in the firefighter’s boot placed in front of each department’s pot.
One anonymous donor began the St. Marys Fire Department with a 100 percent head-start — by contributing a $100 bill to their boot.
“She said, ‘Here’s to start off,’ ” Lunz said, adding he just smiled and said, “Thank you.”
Toward the end of the evening, defending champions St. Marys Fire Department firefighters and paramedics kept claim of their title. They beat departments from New Knoxville, Buckland, St. Johns, Cridersville, Wapakoneta, New Bremen and Minster.
Lunz, who began participating in the Crisis Center benefit three years ago, said he has watched the event grow.
“There is more interest and more auctioned items,” Lunz said as he manned the St. Marys chili pot. “It’s just become a bigger auction overall.”
Lunz said the auction grew through the years because of increasing public awareness of the dangers and prevalence of domestic violence in the community and in general.
“The public supports it because they know the good it does for the people in need,” Lunz said. “(Domestic violence) is a problem and the people realize it and that’s why they support it — because you never know where domestic violence is going to happen.”
Barnes said the auction itself helps create public knowledge regarding domestic violence.
“It brings awareness to the Crisis Center and gives people the opportunity to help, even if they are not directly affected by the Center,” Barnes said. “It exposes the need.
“There’s a lot of good people in Auglaize County.”
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Last Updated ( Monday, 23 April 2007 )
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