Lions Club’s 32nd auction nets $21,500
By Norene Prososki, norene@ozarkcountytimes.com
This year’s Lions Club auction and sportsman’s raffle netted a record $21,500 for Gainesville’s summer ball program and other local projects supported by the Gainesville Lions Club. The annual fundraiser, now in its 32nd year, was held Friday night at Gainesville High School. It included a chili supper and silent auction plus a live auction, both offering a wide variety of goods and services contributed by area merchants and individuals. Among the high-ticket items was a Patrick Mahomes-autographed Kansas City Chiefs helmet, which sold for more than $1,000, and several high-dollar pans of cinnamon rolls, fried pies and other baked goods.
The Lions Club always contributes a large portion of the event’s proceeds to the summer ball program, which is managed by the Gainesville Schools. The rest is distributed among various other community projects, including area youth camps, sending local students to Boys and Girls State, providing glasses for needy students and adults, and supporting the Interagency Council’s projects such as the Back to School Fair. The Lions Club also funds holiday food baskets and contributes to Project Graduations, the Share the Harvest charity venison project, Hootin an Hollarin and the Ozark County Toy Drive.
It also offers the Lions Club/H. T. Harlin Memorial Scholarship and the Hoerman Memorial Scholarship each year to selected graduating Gainesville High School seniors. Auction organizer Chris Harlin said that, due to the generosity of the community, the Lions Club is doubling the amount of both scholarships this year.
Harlin and the auction’s other organizers expressed thanks to those who contributed auction items and also to those who turned out to buy them.
See the Ozark County Times Facebook page for a complete album of photos of the evening.