By John A. Ballentine
The Stark County Elementary School Parents’ Club, in conjunction with the Stark County Education Foundation, will hold the 9th Annual Fundraiser Dinner and Auction Saturday, Feb. 29, at the Orwig Auction and Event Center, in Toulon.
“We’ve stopped doing a number of small fundraisers so that we could do one big fundraiser,”said SCESPC Chair Nicole Mercer. “The students don’t have to sell wrapping paper and such, now.”
Stark County Educational Foundation President Jerry Klooster explained, “The air-conditioning is the focus of the Parents’ Club fundraiser this year, but in addition, the Stark County Educational Foundation, which is a separate entity, raises money to give scholarships to Stark County students, provides mini-grants to Stark County teachers and provides for the needs of the students who otherwise couldn’t afford to do things at school.”
“We picked the air-conditioning project this year for the elementary school class
rooms,” Mercer added. “Our goal is to get all the classrooms air-conditioned.”
Klooser said most elementary rooms are not air conditioned.
“It’s a really worthy goal because the building really gets hot in August, September, April and May,” Klooster said. “And the degree or amount of learning is significantly decreased in 90 degree weather.”
There will be two auctions: a silent bidding auction, plus Joe Orwig donating his talents to conduct a live auction.
“Some items in the live auction are considered experiences, such as a fire truck ride, principal for the day, P.E. and art teacher for half a day,” Mercer said. “There are also premium parking spaces available and seats in the crow’s nest at the football homecoming game, plus reserved bleacher seats that have a seat-back.”
Doors open at 5 p.m. and dinner is at 6 p.m. for $15 catered by Michelle Webster, of West Jersey. The dinner is Italian with fettucine Alfredo and lasagna. After dinner, admission is free. The silent auction runs until 7:15 and the live auction begins at 7:30 After the live auction, Jason Musselman will be DJ until midnight.
Centerpieces for the table are being built by Pre-K through 5th grade students, in conjunction with Yer Kiln Me of Wyoming. Centerpieces will be auctioned off, as well.
The Stark County High School Rebelettes offer babysitting at the high school, in Toulon, from 4:30-9:30 p.m. at $15 per child and $10 for each additional child. Food, drink and games will be available for the children.
“Both organizations try to limit the number of fundraisers as to not overwhelm the communities with requests. This is the big fundraiser of the year for both organizations,” Klooster reiterated.
Donations are still needed for auction items. Contact Nicole Mercer at (309) 370-7236 or 525-3870. Also, monetary donations are welcome.
Some items to be auctioned are: front row seats at Christmas concerts at the schools with front row parking, two half-hogs, a catered dinner for six, the old Toulon scoreboard, Girl Scout cookies, a day at Tanner’s orchard and much more.
Tickets are available at: Better Banks, The State Bank of Toulon, One Eleven Coffee, Lucy Dot’s Bakery and at all Stark County school offices.
