Gift certificates to most of the restaurants in town. Oil change coupons. Gift baskets filled with clothing and food items. Even three credit hours to Mid Michigan College.
All of these items and many, many more are being readied for the annual Radio Auction from the Mt. Pleasant Rotary Club. The auction acts as one of two large fundraisers the Rotary Club holds each and every year.
"These are items that many people will be buying every day anyhow, so they might as well get them from the Rotary and let their money go to local charities," says Bob Wheeler, treasurer of the Mt. Pleasant Rotary Club and a co-chair for the auction.
This year’s radio auction opens online on Sunday, Oct. 20, and culminates with a live radio broadcast from 5 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 22, on 104.3 WCZY-FM. Interested parties can register online, with bidding opening to the public on the 20th. While bids are accepted over the phone during the broadcast, Wheeler encourages people to place their bids online, when possible.
Local businesses and charities donate goods and services to the auction each year, with more than 300 items available in this year’s auction alone. The auction, along with the annual Beef Dinner each February, serves as a major fundraiser for the service club, which raises money to make grants to qualified charities.
Wheeler says that the club has raised approximately $40,000 over the past two years. Grants have helped support the Island Park Amphitheater, the Strickler Non Profit Center, the Soup Kitchen, the Discovery Museum, and the Union township Little League, among others.
"It’s guaranteed that the majority of money raised will stay in the community, going to local charities," Wheeler says.
Visit the Mt. Pleasant Rotary Club online for auction info.
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