Scott Swanson
Organizers of the Sweet Home Alumni Foundation’s annual Trees for Scholars Christmas tree auction were wondering this year if they should go forward with plans this year.
“We were going to cancel it,” said board member MarySue Reynolds.
Then some board members suggested doing an online auction, in which bidders would compete against each other until Saturday at noon, when the selling stopped.
It may not have been the usual gala dinner affair, but the auction, whose winners were announced in a live-streamed broadcast from the Chamber of Commerce, raised nearly $15,000 to help fund college educations for Sweet Home High School graduates.
This year, donated trees were decorated, then photographed and posted on Facebook, where the public had the opportunity to bid on them through noon Saturday.
“I’m pleased with how it turned out,” said Reynolds, a veteran organizer of the event. I was a little nervous because a lot of us on the board are not real familiar with ins and outs of social media. Jamie Melcher kind of led us through it, with her sister Shari (Melcher-Smith). They had an understanding of how to put on a Facebook live event.”
The auction of 14 trees alone raised $11,351 including a wreath memorializing the late Carli Hutchins-Erickson, which brought $900.
The top seller of the night was a “Woodland Creature Christmas” tree decorated by Melcher and Melcher-Smith, which brought a $1,300 bid.
Another approximately $3,000 was contributed through donations, Reynolds said.
The show and the individual trees can be seen at http://www.facebook.com/SHAFTreesForScholars. Scroll down to view each tree.
Other organizers were SHAF board members Laurie Carlson, Abby Virtue Hagle, Shauna McIntyre, Heather Swanson and Brenda Winslow.
The event was hosted by Sweet Home teacher and wrestling coach Steve Thorpe and Jim Hagle, who has emceed several recent SHAF Christmas tree auctions.
They mixed patter with some good-natured needling of various participants.
“It works, calling them out,” Reynolds said, chuckling. “It’s definitely a different way to do fund-raisers, but it seems like people here want to give. However you do it, our community will step up to the plate.”
Though this year’s total was less than the approximately $26,000 from last year, she noted that because the event wasn’t held at the high school cafeteria, as it usually is, “we didn’t have any expenses.”
“Every person provided the tree. Normally, we buy the trees and pay for all the food, all the expenses that go along with borrowing a venue.”
She said she’s looking forward to getting back to the normal gala next year: “Even though it’s a lot more work, all the people are there, all the festivities.”