Going once, going twice...
- Details
- Published on Thursday, October 27, 2016
By Tony Eu
Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
On Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 6 p.m., the Rotary Club will be hosting its annual TV Auction. This year, part of the money raised will go towards the project to get new playground equipment at Neepawa’s Hazel M. Kellington Elementary School (HMK).
“The auction is actually the Rotary Club’s major fundraiser for the year,” said Don Schmall, the president of the Neepawa Rotary Club. “We only do one really big fundraiser and that’s the auction,” he added. Wayne Hildebrand, the Overall Auction Chair, echoed the fact, stating, “It’s the one initiative a year that provides the main share of our funding so we can support community events.”
As for how the auction works, Schmall has the answer; “The business community and surrounding area make donations to the club. We take those items, I would say the majority of them are brand new and then we hold a TV auction through AccessTV.” He elaborated, saying, “It’s basically a live auction. People phone in, make bids. [It] goes around a couple times, when the auctioneer’s bell rings, then the item is sold and the person gets it.”
Along with phoning in, people can also head down to the Roxy and make bids in person.
“[The auction] had been going on for over 15 years,” Hildebrand noted. “Annually, through the auction, we raise between $15,000 and $20,000 a year and in essence, that all gets turned back to support the community,” he continued.
As Hildebrand stated, the majority of money raised ends up back in the community, as the Rotary’s projects and programs are geared towards the community. “That’s what Rotary is, we’re a local service club, so we like to work towards getting programs that help to support the community,” Hildebrand said.
Over the 15 years of operation, the fundraiser has aided in many community projects. “We’ve donated to new automatic doors at the medical clinic, we’ve donated to renovations of washrooms up at the fairgrounds, we’ve donated to some renovations at Viscount Cultural Centre,” listed Schmall, remarking that those are just a few of the many projects Rotary has assisted through the auction.
“Every year we’ll pick a key project,” said Hildebrand, “This year it’s going to be the playground equipment at HMK, desperately needed with the expanded enrolment.”
Along with the playground equipment, money raised at the event will also go towards the club’s annual local and international projects. In regards to the local side, Hildebrand said, “We do a lot of stuff at the high school. We support the Peer Helpers program, we also look at career development for students there.” He added that, “We have initiatives for students interested in agriculture. Getting career symposiums in agriculture, in technology.”
Schmall mentioned some of the initiatives that Rotary has at the high school as well, “We provide a $2,000 scholarship to a student [and the] last four or five years, we’ve provided $2,000 to the HOPE group.” He added that all of that money comes from the proceeds of this auction.
As for international projects, “The number one international project for Rotary is eradicating polio,” Schmall said. “It’s a big thing,” he adds, “We have matching money from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, so when we put in money, it gets multiplied. First of all by the Canadian government and then by their foundation. So a dollar invested multiplies to $4 by the time it gets donated.”
While eradicating polio is Rotary’s largest project, there are a couple of other international projects Rotary is involved in. One of the larger ones is a program called ShelterBox. Schmall explained the ShelterBox program, saying, “The recent hurricanes in Haiti and that sort of thing, they’ll drop in what they call a ShelterBox, which is a portable house basically. A tent, with all the supplies; cooking supplies, cutlery, food items. They’ll drop it in and in most cases, that will sustain a family until they can get back up on their feet and have a residence.”
Other projects in the past have included building wells in India and Africa, while at the moment, a group of Rotarians, including one from Neepawa, are heading to Guatemala to teach children. Rotary also participates in a student exchange program.
“All the Rotary members pay a membership fee,” Schamll remarks, “so that membership fee that we pay covers our day to day operating expenses. What we raise out of this auction [goes towards helping] either in our community or [people in need] all over the world.”
Most of the items upon which this auction is dependent come from businesses, but not all of them. “We have some farmers, for example, who donate sides of beef. We got people that make pies and tarts and baking,” Schmall said. There are also some big ticket items that are donated from individuals.
“To make the auction successful, we need the support of the community,” stressed Schmall. “The one thing we’d like to get out to people is if they can watch the auction, support it through purchasing items and then their money goes to work to put things back into our community.”
Some of the items being auctioned off include sports equipment, electronics, agricultural products, grooming and clothing items, as well as many gift certificates.
This year, the major items include a $1,600 travel voucher, a large BBQ and meat products, a 20” Oak corner china cabinet with lights and mirrored walls, installed sliding cabinet shelving and processed beef and pork halves, to name a few.
Also of interest to be won is the rental of a meat smoker, rental of the Arden curling ice, dinner for six delivered to you, miniature automotive collectibles, a stainless steel mini fridge, a 16” girl’s bike, an acrylic painting by Miyoung Kim, Natives game tickets and fire pits.
Twenty dozen butter tarts and 15 bags of potatoes will also be auctioned off.
The full list of items is in the Oct. 26 edition of the Neepawa Press and will also be in the Nov. 2 edition. The auction can be watched on NACTV (Access12), 30-MTS and antennae and 592-Bell. To participate and bid, you can call 204-476-3524 or bid in person by coming to the Roxy.
If there are any businesses wanting to contribute, please contact a member of the Rotary Club. Dave Bennet, the canvassing chair for the auction can be reached by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
As a final statement, Dave Bennet said, “Thank you to all our donors. You have been very generous. Please tune in or come down to the Roxy to support us.”
