The 25th Annual Jefferson Rotary Charity Auction is next week.
The event will be held on Friday, November 17th at the Greene Room Events Center at Wild Rose Casino and Resort in Jefferson. The evening starts with a cocktail hour and mini games at 5:30pm, followed by a prime rib and chicken entree meal at 6:30pm. The live auction will follow the meal and begins with the dessert auction, which Auction Chair Susan Laehn says all proceeds will be used for scholarships for graduating high school seniors.
Laehn tells Raccoon Valley Radio the live auction will have about 30 items to bid on, including a trip to Durango, Colorado next fall’ a distillery tour in Kentucky, and professional musician and singer Chad Eillott will perform for two hours anywhere in Iowa in the next two years. Laehn points out another way for people to bid is through their online auction that opens tomorrow and it has about 100 items on display.
There are also going to be six $250 cash raffles throughout the event, where tickets are $5 each. Laehn says a new tradition in honor of their 25th Charity Auction is one of the raffles will be for one of four local charities, including the Webb House, Greene County Action Resource Center, Greene County Homeless Coalition and Midwest Mission. She explains why Rotary wants to do something like this.
“I think because a lot of times the people that are winning the $250 like they’re super excited to get it, of course, but we thought sometimes that money can probably go right back to charities. This was really just Rotarian led, particularly Chris Durlam, just sort of came up with this idea and we thought it was a wonderful way to both invite those organizations to come be part of our auction, but do something on the night for those special groups that give so much to the community.”
Laehn adds when purchasing raffle tickets, people can write down what charity they want during the event. The proceeds from the live and online auctions goes back to the community through grants and other projects. Tickets to the event are $50 each or $400 for a table of eight. Click the link below to purchase tickets, as well as place a bid on an online auction item.