By JULIE LANGPETER
Posted 4 hours ago
What does a snowmobile jacket, skateboard, water cooler, set of cushions, wood splitter and tickets to a game have in common?
They were all purchased before noon Saturday by Natasha Hallett at the Kiwanis Mammoth Auction.
“I have so much I don’t even know what I bought,” Hallett laughed. “It’s just supporting the club.”
And for Hallett, it’s a family affair. Beside her at the auction sat her mom and dad and two teenage children.
Bringing her teens to the auction is a lesson for them.
“I’m trying to teach them at a young age that to get something out of your community, you’ve got to give to your community.”
Hallett’s family owns Captain Cook de Fries, a chip truck, and her husband and their staff were outside in the truck all day, feeding the hungry crowds. All the proceeds from the day also went to Kiwanis.
“Any way we can support it, we do. It all goes to a good cause.”
The auction, held at ODAS Park, has been a community staple since 1979, and this year they were hoping to raise $50,000. It will be a few weeks before they are able to calculate exactly how much money was raised this year, says Orillia Kiwanis president Carol Ivey.
There was more than $100,000 worth of donated goods for sale — from soup to nuts. And a big bonus for bidders on the 700 items is that they didn’t have to pay HST, Ivey said.
Ivey was probably the only person in Orillia who was disappointed to see the beautiful weather forecast for the weekend — the sun may have tempted some people into staying home to do their last-minute fall yardwork — but she was still expecting about 400 registered bidders, the same as last year.
The promise of a good deal as Christmas approaches is not the only thing that has kept the mammoth auction going for more than three decades.
“It’s a fun community event. There’s lots of social interaction,” Ivey said.
The Kiwanis mandate is also important.
“People recognize the good that Kiwanis does in the community. Our projects are all child-focused.”
jlangpeter@orilliapacket.com
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Kiwanis Auction raises much needed money for local children’s projects
