Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – The cameras and telephones have been turned off, the storeroom is starting to thin out, and officials with the Presque Isle Rotary Club are excited with the success of the recent 60th annual Radio/TV Auction.
Contributed photo/Bob Grove-Markwood
Father/daughter team — Gregg and Emily Collins, a Caribou High School junior — served as auctioneers during the annual television-radio auction, sponsored by the Presque Isle Rotary Club.
“The auction went very well,” said Joe Clukey, Rotary president. “Again this year we were able to raise a fantastic amount of money and we’ll be able to support the various agencies in the amounts we had planned to.”
Clukey said the grand total for the auction items was “just about $29,000.”
“It’s down slightly from last year and the year before,” he said, “but up from all the years prior to that. It’s comparable. We didn’t have quite as much merchandise this year as we’ve had, but we do have some other income that will come in from the auction including the sale of Christmas wreaths and Fox Family Potato Chips which we sold at the storeroom this past weekend and will again this weekend.
“We’re looking at roughly $500 there, so this year’s auction should bring in $29,500,” said Clukey. “We had an incredibly successful Gold Brick Program. The goal was to raise $103,000 and we raised $170,000. The committee did a fantastic job and the public really responded. We are very proud and pleased that on the 50th anniversary of the program we were able to far exceed our original goal.”
Recognizing that the cost of fuel is skyrocketing, Clukey said there was some trepidation about “whether or not we’d be able to meet those goals, but the people in our area are very generous.”
“We can’t thank them enough,” he said. “People came through as they always do.”
Clukey will continue as Rotary president through June then Alton Hartt, this year’s senior auction chair, will step into the position.
“What a wonderful auction,” said Hartt. “Going into it, we had about $6,000 to $7,000 less in merchandise than we did last year, but we were able to bring in as much money as we did last year. We succeeded in meeting our goals, and the money raised will go toward several worthy causes.”
This year, proceeds will benefit C-A-N-C-E-R (Caring Area Neighbors for Cancer Education & Recovery), Nordic Heritage Sports Club, Star City ATV Club, Aroostook Football, Homeless Services of Aroostook, the Spragueville Extension, as well as Rotary Youth and Scholarship Funds.
Successful bidders can pick up their merchandise at the storeroom located at 12 North St. in Presque Isle. The storeroom will be open from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8.
