With more than 250 donated items at the ready, the 17th annual Loonie Auction looks like it will be another successful fundraiser for the Handy Circle Resource Society held at AiMHi, 950 Kerry St., on Saturday and Sunday.
The resource society provides peer counseling, information and referral services, as well as offering workshops on topics such as financial security, housing, transportation and life skills. Handy Circle also offers social and recreational interaction at the resource centre located at 490 Quebec St.
All items up for auction will be placed on tables in the gymnasium at AiMHi and each item will have a paper bag placed near it. Each ticket costs a dollar and guests are encouraged to stack the deck in their favour by buying many tickets and loading the bag designated for their favourite item so odds are better when the winning ticket is drawn from the bag at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Items up for grabs are two specially-made oak picnic tables, one child-sized and the other adult size. There is the traditional Loonie tree, proving money really does grown on these trees. There are gift baskets and framed art and sayings, children's toy sets and stuffed animals and many gift certificates from businesses supporting the Handy Circle's good cause.
"We started the Loonie Auction off in 2002 and we were very meager and small," Shirley Byman, vice president of the Handy Circle Resource Society and volunteer, said. "We just had coffee tins to put the tickets in because we were trying to improvise and then we advanced to the paper bags that we now have. We have some people that come to the event year after year and others that are brand new who think it's a neat idea, so that's good."
All items offered during the Loonie Auction are donated from those in the community.
"I would like to thank all our sponsors and everyone that made donations because without them we wouldn't be doing what we're doing," Byman said.
The Loonie Auction takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Draws take place at 2 p.m. and continue until all the draws are completed.
Admission to the fundraising event is free. There will be a 50/50 draw where participants can win up to $500.
