Scott Swanson
The Sweet Home Alumni Foundation’s “Trees for Scholarships” auction set records – again – this year, with a record crowd and record proceeds Saturday night, Dec. 3.
“Every year we seem to be breaking records,” said MarySue Reynolds, SHAF board member and a longtime organizer of the auction, which has been held annually since 2003 – including an online event in 2020.
“It was Coreen Melcher’s great idea. It started off small and has grown to what it is today.”
She noted that Melcher’s three daughters are “an integral part of planning and implementing the auction.”
Proceeds from the event, which is SHAF’s primary fundraiser, are used to fund scholarships for Sweet Home High School graduates, who received a total of $82,000 from SHAF in 2022. This year’s total was just over $70,000 before expenses, which are estimated at about $15,000, she said.
Despite no-shows due to illness, the gymnasium area of the Boys & Girls Club was filled with participants Saturday night. Reynolds said 260 seats were sold, a record.
Until the auction moved from Sweet Home High School’s cafeteria area to the larger Boys & Girls Club, “we’d have, like, 100 people, maybe 125,” Reynolds said.
This year’s crowd included a wide variety of age groups.
“We do have lot of people super excited about it,” Reynolds said. “They love to do the trees. We do have more younger people, who are super excited to do trees next year. We definitely need some younger people to help us with this auction.”
The 17 trees, decorated to the nines by local residents and auctioned off by Joel Nightingale, who was new to the event, brought in a total of $33,250.
Plus a wine rack, created by Larry Johnson from an oak library card cabinet, brought in an additional $1,250.
And three desserts, a vanilla caramel toffee cake created by Molly Laycock and a pair of cheesecakes – tiramisu and blueberry, by Shelly Garrett, sold for a total of $675.
Reynolds noted that SHAF is now awarding second-year scholarships to recipients of first-year scholarships who continue in school and apply.
“We find it’s really easy to get scholarships for the first year, but now, if a student qualifies for a first-year scholarship and goes a second year, they can get another scholarship from us.”
SHAF Vice-President Rich Black told the crowd Saturday that SHAF is hoping to eventually get its endowment to the point that it can offer third- and fourth-year scholarships as well.
Reynolds said there’s more on the horizon.
“We have hopes at some point in time to maybe give a full-ride scholarship,” she said.
SHAF, which is in its 31st year, is doing well, she added.
“We invest conservatively, so we don’t take big hits when the market goes down,” she said. “It seems like we’re going on the right track. Every year, we have two or three more endowments that people are wanting to fund.”
To learn more about SHAF and how to donate, outside of the auction, visit shafgives.org.