Lions Club auction nets over $19,500 to support summer ball, other Ozark County projects


More than 200 people attended the 33rd annual Lions Club Auction Friday night, May 7, in the Gainesville High School gym. The event raised $19,500 this year.

This year’s Lions Club auction netted $19,500 for Gainesville’s summer ball program and other local projects supported by the Gainesville Lions Club. The annual fundraiser, now in its 33rd year, was held Friday night at Gainesville High School.

In past years the auction has raised these amounts: nearly $22,000 in 2020; $21,500 in 2019; more than $21,000 in 2018; $20,000 in 2017 and $19,000 in 2016. 

The event 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. 

Notable items for sale included a Kansas City Chiefs helmet signed by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, which sold for $950, and a .22-.250 firearm usually sold for more than $500. A pan of Melinda Abraham’s cinnamon rolls brought more than $300, and a strawberry cheesecake baked by Denise Crisp was won by a bid of $280.

This year’s sportsman’s raffle was also a success with Lions Club members selling all 300 tickets for $50 each. Those drawn as winners got to take their pick from several large-ticket items including a trailer, 11 different firearms, a kayak, two guns safes and other items. 

The Lions Club always contributes a large portion of the event’s proceeds to the summer ball program, which is now managed by the Gainesville Schools. The rest is distributed among various other community projects, including various youth camps, sending local students to Boys and Girls State, providing glasses for needy students and adults, supporting the Interagency Council’s projects such as the Back to School Fair, funding holiday food baskets, and contributing to Project Graduations, the Share the Harvest charity venison project, Hootin an Hollarin and the Ozark County Toy Drive. The Lions Club also offers a Lions Club/H. T. Harlin Memorial Scholarship each year to a graduating Gainesville High School senior. 

Organizers expressed thanks to those who contributed auction items and to those who turned out to buy them. 

Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

Phone: (417) 679-4641
Fax: (417) 679-3423