14th Annual Benefit Auction Report

Greetings friends!

auction-day-with-vignetteAnother auction has come and gone.  Boy was it fun!  Preparation always seems so stressful for the committee and staff.  I left camp at 10pm on Friday night knowing there was plenty to finish on Saturday morning.  Slept OK. Woke up thinking about all there was to do. Rushed up to camp after kissing my wife and daughter. Got out of my truck and took a deep breath.  Immediately I smelled quiche baking and doughnuts frying. The air was brisk and the sun bright. Fog was rising from the valley below.  I recalled a snapshot from a recent board retreat.  Someone wrote “Auction Day.”  That was a response to the question, “What do you love about camp?”  I hadn’t thought about that much until that moment.  And I realized that even though it’s stressful for me I just love auction day! Campers are back on site. Many of our most faithful supporters are here. Lots of volunteers hustle around to get food out.  And there are new-to-camp folks checking it out for the first time. Sometimes just passing by sometimes from a nearby town.

What a wonderful mix of people!  And all for the purpose of supporting a vision of a better world – a vision of giving local children a needed experience; young people who need a place to go and get outside and play. To experience God in nature and the people around them. To be inspired to hope and dream and love. Who doesn’t want to invest in our youth in a meaningful way.

And then there’s the food.  Fresh made doughnuts. Quiche & fruit. Fresh coffee. Fresh squeezed apple cider. Popcorn just popped like at the movies.  Add the people and food to the event itself – the auctioneers doing their thing with their crazy fast talk.  What fun and fellowship!

Some stats:

  • $42,049 has been recorded so far.
  • 80 bidder numbers were handed out to over 130 people.
  • 95 raffle tickets sold (congrats to Rebecca Golding, winner).
  • 180 doughnuts made and consumed in 4 hours.

See photos from the day on the main auction page.  Coming to that page in a day or so will be the lot list with winning bids attached.  It’s often fun to see how much items sold for.

And please please please plan to join us next year, September 23 OR 30, 2017 (committee will be deciding shortly).

Please also plan to join us as a volunteer during winter or summer programs.  Or, sign up for monthly giving (email me brandon @ bethanybirches.org for the monthly giving form).  No matter how you join in the fun, hope to see you here at camp sometime soon.

Brandon “Tuna” Bergey

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