The Trees for Scholarships auction and dinner, held Dec. 8 at Sweet Home High School, grossed $36,634 for the Sweet Home Alumni Foundation, which has created a endowment that funds scholarships for Sweet Home High School graduates aiming to attend college.
“We are very pleased,” said Board Member Mary Sue Reynolds. “After expenses we should clear more than $30,000.
“We will use this money, plus what we earn from our investments, to fund scholarships this year. Last year we gave out $42,000 in scholarships to Sweet Home graduates.”
The event, entitled “An Oregon Trail Christmas,” raised money through both a silent auction of donated items from SHAF members and others, and the live auction, which sold 14 Christmas trees fully decorated by volunteers, many sponsored by local companies.
The top-selling tree was “An Old-Fashioned Pioneer Tree,” on page at right, designed and decorated by Carrie Royer, Wendy Holbrook and Ashley Christensen, and sponsored by Ticor Tile Co.
It included a custom tree skirt and a variety of antique and handmade items that one might find along the Oregon Trail.
It sold for $2,300.
“We’re very appreciative of our community and how they always come together to support our youth,” Reynolds said. ” We couldn’t do this if people didn’t come to our event, so we’re very happy people take time out of this busy season to come.”
She said organizers had to “hustle” to get the event set up, beginning immediately after the high school students finished lunch on Friday.
“We basically had 24 hours to pull everything together and get it set up in time for the Saturday night auction. We had the help of several high school students, the amazing high school custodians, the wonderful cafeteria staff and, of course, the ever-faithful Larry Johnson to help us with set-up.”
Desserts were donated by The Point and Shari’s restaurants, Laurel Curtis, Amy Vasfaret, Shelly Tack Larson, OR Cake Mom and Gina’s Cakes.
A prime rib dinner was served by Mike Hall of The Point Restaurant.