The Sweet Home Alumni Foundation’s annual Trees for Scholarships dinner and auction grossed more than $37,000 Saturday night as guests packed into the Sweet Home High School cafeteria to bid on lavishly decorated trees and other items.
Proceeds from the event go to college scholarships that have been awarded to graduating Sweet Home High School seniors since SHAF was founded 25 years ago.
Coming into this year, the auctions have raised more than $450,000 for scholarships and emcee Greg Ego told the crowd that SHAF currently has more than $1 million in principal capital, interest from which is funding the scholarships.
“It’s amazing that a community this size has a corpus this size,” Ego told the crowd.
This year’s event featured an expanded layout, with silent auction items displayed in the commons, which allowed for more seating and an increase to 18 decorated trees from 15 last year.
A crowd of more than 200 people dined on a beef burgundy and Coq au Vin (chicken) dinner catered by Angila Tack Food Services, with desserts donated by a wide variety of individuals and local businesses.
The audience also heard from National Honor Society members Katelynn Towry, Alayna Davis and Bethany Gingerich, who introduced themselves during the course of the evening, telling attendees about their college plans.
“Every year it’s getting better,” said Mary Sue Reynolds, a member of the organizing committee. “We’re hoping to keep building it.”