If the Bids for Barks annual fundraiser for the homeless animals of the Humane Society of Southwestern Michigan gets any larger, organizers may have to lease out the VanAndel Arena, Ford Field or Comerica Park just to host the spirited crowd of bidders who have turned the event into one of the largest one-night fundraisers in the entire region year-after-year.
The results are finally tallied from the Saturday, May 19th event which moved this year to the largest venue in the region — the Lake Michigan College Mendel Center’s Grand Upton Hall — where a record crowd of 650 people filled every available table in the house and began waving paddles bidding on offerings large and small.
While the auction earnings alone were on par with the record setting pace of a year ago, the bottom line this year has ballooned dramatically thanks to the Yeager Family Challenge Grant and will result in a $387,000 total from the Bids for Barks Committee to the Humane Society of SW Michigan which has slated a Grand Opening celebration in less than two weeks on June 9th.
The banner year for Bids for Barks — its 10th Anniversary year — was the result of tremendous work by the organizing committee, free-wheeling bid generation for Auctioneer Dan McCrery, multiple-side-bar games and raffles, and hundreds of silent auction items that routinely surpassed the actual retail value of the item or gift certificate offered up.
In keeping with the structure of the Yeager Family Challenge Grant, $258,000 of the final figure will go to the capital building fund for the new shelter ready to open along M-139 in Royalton Township south of the Concord Ridge Equestrian Center, and $129,000 will go to the endowment designed to keep the shelter in business through routine operating costs, thereby reducing the need for frantic appeals for emergency help when supplies run short and similar occurrences.
So, it is a record year on virtually every front for Bids for Barks, however…despite the tremendous strides, there is still plenty of room to go to fulfill the entire Challenge Grant, which means your ongoing support is strongly encouraged and greatly appreciated.
Bids for Barks coordinators Lynn Schlender, Christine Wilke, Kelly Seabrechts Nate and others who worked tirelessly for the animals and the new shelter have asked me to offer up their profound thanks for everyone who participated in the 10th Annual affair whether you were a volunteer working the event, a patron attending the event and waving your paddle wildly in the air, Auctioneer McCrery and his staff of spotters trying to keep up with the happy bidders, musicians who entertained at the event, staff who gave up another Saturday night to share the animal’s stories, vendors, merchants, sponsors, supporters and everyone else who provided items for the auction, and especially the Yeager family and their highly supportive friends who are part of the Challenge Grant process for making it the best year yet.While you may have grown accustomed to hearing that it was another record-breaking year, the entire Humane Society organization knows only too well that it takes a Herculean effort to achieve that crowning success and they promise to never take any of you for granted.
My thanks also to Professional Photographer Candy Schwadron who tirelessly donates hours of work and top notch photography to the Humane Society for the photo accompanying this story on Moody on the Market. She and her equally talented husband Rich provide many sterling memories for everyone associated with the organization year after year.
If you were unable to make it to the auction, have come into some extra cash since then, or would simply like to help boost the capital campaign and the ongoing endowment fund, click the link below for details on how to do just that by either visiting online or mailing a check to the organization.
