Astro Auction generates over $14K
What started out slowly ended in a bidding frenzy to give last week’s Astro Auction a respectable fund-raising total of $14,703.
The $14,703 is second only to last year’s record-breaking amount of $16,108.
“I’m very gratified with this number,” said Astro Auction volunteer Bill Zechman. “I thought we were well off last year’s pace and that was a banner year.”
The Astro Auction is an annual fund-raiser which benefits the American Cancer Society. Listeners bid on items they hear about over the radio from 8 to 10 a.m. each day, or they can stop by Astro Auction headquarters at Caney Fork Electric to view silent auction items.
This year, daily totals were down Monday through Thursday leading volunteers like Zechman to believe the final count would be well short of the money raised in 2002. But on Friday, the day money is tallied from the silent auction, $9,169 was collected – close to double the total from the previous four days.
“The silent auction items really brought in the money this year because several larger items were donated,” said volunteer Carol Locke. “We couldn’t do it without all the volunteers and people who bake so many things. We don’t even call half of them. They just show up or drop stuff by.”
The top selling silent auction items were a telescope and a gas grill, which both brought $525. A rather unusual item – a colon exam provided by Dr. Brock – brought around $300.
The 11-year Astro Auction total now stands at $113,678.
Astro Auction 2003 totals by day:
Monday $1,099
Tuesday $1,201
Wednesday $1,246
Thursday $2,018
Friday $9,169
Total $14,703