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.
Staff photo/Mark Putnam
AN HISTORIC MOMENT — Presque Isle Rotarians achieved a 50-year goal last week during the 60th annual television-radio auction when a $1 million commitment to local health care was reached and even surpassed. Making a presentation of one of the many Gold Bricks pledged during the three-night event are, from left, longtime Rotary Gold Brick Chairman Ray Hews, and honorary Gold Brick co-chairmen Wilfred Guerrette and Eddie Hews, Ray’s father. Both the elder Hews and Guerrette helped spearhead the ambitious health care endowment as Rotarians in 1958. Please turn to page 5 for more photos.
“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.”
This year’s auction featured several big-ticket, three-night special items including four tickets to a New England Patriots-New York Jets game.
“That was probably our hot item,” said Clukey. “The first two nights it was kind of quiet, but the last hour or so bids were going up by $50 every five minutes, and ended up at $1,300.
“Overall our three-night items were down this year, but I think that’s just a function of maybe what we had,” he said. “You never really know from year to year, but the regular night items were up significantly to offset it.”
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.
“When I go around and see what we’re doing with these organizations,” said Hartt, “it makes it all worth the work and effort that goes into the auction. When you see how committed these people are to what they’re doing, it makes you feel good that you’re helping out.”
Hartt said the process to determine which organizations will receive funding begins in February.
“We put a letter in The Star-Herald and people apply for funds. Traditionally the chairman will pare it down and take it to the board of directors, and then we’ll decide based on what we anticipate for funds what we’re going to support and at what financial level,” he said. “That’s the hardest part of the job … determining what you’re going to do because there’s always more requests than there are funds.”
Hartt said the auction would not have been possible without the generous support of local merchants, bidders and the Rotarians themselves.
“We have 100 members,” he said, “and the auction is the one event that brings everybody together. There can be anywhere from 60 to 75 people there at one time all working with the same goal in mind. It’s a lot of work, but a lot of fun.”
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.
Contributed photo/Bob Grove-Markwood
DETAIL MAN — Longtime Rotarian Larry Clark puts his carpentry skills to work every year as a member of the Presque Isle Rotary Club's auction set design team. This year, Clark put “service above self” in his work to create an eye-catching (and sturdy) Gold Brick display area.
Contributed photo/Bob Grove-Markwood
ROTARY BRAIN TRUST — Putting their Christmas present assembly skills to work before the annual Rotary Auction are, from left, Co-chair Alton Hartt, President Joe Clukey and Co-chair Jane Towle.
Contributed photo/Bob Grove-Markwood
TEAMWORK — Serving as peggers and bid sorters during the auction were, from left, Jeff Pangburn, Andy Grass, Ralph McPherson, Mark Kelley and Steve St. Pierre.
