Record-breaking crowd, return at Christmas tree auction

Scott Swanson

Sweet Home responded to the first in-person Trees for Scholarships auction Saturday night, Dec. 4, with a record crowd and record spending.

The event, sponsored by the Sweet Home Alumni Foundation, was held at the Boys & Girls Club, because the high school cafeteria and commons, where the auction usually is held, were unavailable, said MarySue Reynolds of the organizing committee.

“It was great,” she said. “The community really stepped up and really helped us out. I don’t know if holding it at the Boys & Girls Club helped or what.”

Attendance was at least 200, she said, which was more than any previous crowd in the 18 years of the event, which was held virtually last year.

“We tried to cap it, but we weren’t going to turn anybody away,” Reynolds said. “People are just ready to get out.”

The event took in a record-breaking $53,800 after expenses, she said. This year’s top-selling tree, donated by East Linn Property Management and Salon W, and decorated by Karyn Hartsook and and Sarah Windom, went for $4,600. (To see the trees and sale prices, visit the photo gallery at sweethomenews.com.)

“I feel like last year we did pretty good with having it virtual, which meant we had hardly any expenses, but we topped that this year.”

Greg Ego, president of the SHAF Board of Directors, told the crowd at the event that SHAF, which is celebrating its 30th year, has accumulated an endowment of $2.3 million – prior to Saturday’s sale.

Reynolds said the majority of the money raised now is going to second-year scholarships for students who finish their first year of higher education.

“Usually, in the second year they struggle for money,” said Reynolds, who retired as director of Linn-Benton Community College’s Sweet Home branch.

“As long as they are still attending and maintaining their grades, all the kids who got a scholarship for their first year will be automatically repeated.”

This year, she said, SHAF has given $20,000 in scholarships to nine second-year students, which works out to about $2,000 each.

“If we keep going, we will probably extend it to the third or fourth year,” Reynolds said. “That applies to trade school too. Whatever a kid wants to do, we’ll help them.”

The tree auction included two sets of decorated Christmas trees welded from rebar by students in the metal shop at the high school, which sold for a total of $5,000.

“It was a fun event,” Reynolds said.

See more photos from this event in our photo gallery.

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