It was a sell out crowd for the first-ever fundraising event for the Bringing Optimism and Opportunity to Teachers and Students (BOOST) organization.
Over 300 people attended the event Saturday night at the Greene Room events center at Wild Rose, where there were several opportunities for people to bid on items and make donations. The non-profit organization helps to supplement funds for the teachers of the Greene County School District.
The evening started with a silent auction, which was then followed by a dessert auction. Seventeen items raised $8,025. The live auction brought in $14,700. The highest bid item was 10-cubic yards of concrete from Hamilton Redi-Mix, which went for $1,800 and the company also donated an extra $1,000. Two other live auction items that went for at least $1,000 was Marianne Carlson’s dozen cinnamon rolls every month for one-year and $1,050 for a progressive dinner for eight people. The live auction total also included a $2,500 donation from Home State Bank. Then at the end of the night, individual made donations ranging between $20 to $500.
High School Special Education Instructor Chad Morton talked about his reaction from seeing the support from the community.
“It’s just exciting to see the spirit of the community to be wanting to help not just the teachers, but the students, and to get excited about education. We have so much stress about sports and stuff sometimes, I wish we get that excited about spelling bees and I feel like this is the environment tonight that we are excited about those things.”
BOOST Committee Member Jan Scharingson described what she thought of their first-ever fundraiser.
“Well it was a labor of love for the 12 people on the permanent committee. We had high expectations and I think we met them and maybe even gone beyond them. Our goal was to provide support for the teachers with things that they have to spend money out of their pocket for, and provide enhanced opportunities for the students. I think we’re going to be able to do that. So we’re excited and we’re overwhelmed with the positives and success that we’ve had tonight.”
Preliminary estimates were that the BOOST committee raised over $35,000 to help teachers fulfill their “wish list” of items and trips for future school years.