Kiwanis Club sets goals for 61st annual auction

Prescott, Arizona, Daily Courier
http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&subsectionID=1&articleID=66140

PRESCOTT - The Kiwanis Club has conducted an annual auction to raise money for youth programs since 1949, and hopes this year's event raises $175,000 despite the economic downturn.

The recession has affected donations from the business community, said Jim Tilley, a past president of the Kiwanis Club of Prescott and one of the emcees of the two-week auction, which begins at 7 p.m. Monday. The event raised approximately $160,000 in 2008.

The Kiwanis Club of Prescott and the Kiwanis Club of Bradshaw Mountain in Prescott Valley conduct the televised event from the Prescott Activity Center (the former Armory building). Auction hours are 7 to 10 p.m. weeknights through April 3, with a final live auction shortly after noon April 4 for remaining items at the activity center, 824 E. Gurley St.

"We are making an appeal to the merchants for more donations," said Tilley, a semi-retired veterinarian who is participating in his 31st auction. "At this point of time as of Friday (morning), we do not have enough merchandise to stay on the air for two weeks, as we have always done."

Tilley said would-be donors may call 445-8700—the same number to call in bids—to arrange for deliveries.

"All of the items that we are selling are new merchandise," Tilley explained. "It is not a garage (sale)."

He continued, "We have everything from a gazebo and a spa to restaurant gift certificates and services like tax preparation, haircuts. And we also have great out-of-town opportunities such as tickets to the Grand Canyon Railroad" in Williams.

Tilley said bidding starts at $1 while explaining the Kiwanis Club will seek higher beginning bids for big-ticket items, including vacation getaways. The 1949 auction raised more than $1,000, according to literature for the annual event. Tilley said the goal when he started 31 years ago was about $10,000.

He said the auction went high-tech a year ago with live streaming video. Channel 13 will air the event, which can also be viewed online at www.prescottkiwanisauction.com. The auction has benefited charities or nonprofits such as the Yavapai Regional Medical Center Speech-Hearing Clinic, the Bradshaw Pines Camp (which Kiwanis owns) in the Groom Creek area, Yavapai Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Highlands Center for Natural History, Yavapai Family Advocacy Center and the Heritage Park Zoo, according to Kiwanis literature.

"In the past, Kiwanis has sponsored our recruitment efforts to help us recruit Big Brothers Big Sisters," said Kathleen Murphy, president and chief executive officer for the organization. "They have paid for posters (and) brochures."

Murphy said donations from the Kiwanis auction made it possible for Big Brothers Big Sisters to match more than 900 children in 2008 with adult Bigs. The Kiwanis clubs also helped the Highlands Center pay for building its amphitheater, center Executive Director Dave Irvine said. The center is located in the Prescott National Forest north of Lynx Lake.

Irvine said center officials named the amphitheater for the Kiwanis clubs.

"It would have been very difficult to do without their help," he said.