LAKEPORT — The third annual Lakeport Firefighters Association Dinner Dance Auction, which took place Saturday night, was a sell out.
Monday afternoon”s final tally of funds raised $35,769, Dan Kane, Lakeport firefighter and volunteer treasurer, said.
“We don”t have a multi-million dollar budget,” Brian Hirscher, five-year Lakeport volunteer firefighter said. “We just really appreciate support from the community, without it, it would be extremely difficult to do the things we do.”
With presale tickets online, the auction sold out three weeks in advance.
“If next year sells out just as fast, we”ll have to find a bigger location,” Hirscher said.
The event took place in the Phil Lewis Hall at the Lake County Fairgrounds.
Money raised during the auction will go to safety equipment and community projects, as well as the Matt Black Scholarship, named after a firefighter who died in the line of duty.
The members of the fire department start planning the event early in the summer and items auctioned off are donated from businesses and people from all over the community.
“It”s really tough for everybody, with the economy the way it is, to donate, but people really want to help and give back,” Hirscher said.
The silent auction had 35 items and the live auction had 37; there was also a raffle with 40 more items.
The most expensive piece that night was a rifle that sold for $3,000, it went to Lake County resident Steve Estrada.
Ticket prices for the event were $30 per seat and $300 for a table of eight. Guests who paid for a full table received recognition as table sponsors and had the option of getting two bottles of wine or two buckets of beer along with it.
Various assorted gift baskets, as well as stays at hotels and meals at restaurants from around the area were just some of the items up for bid at the auction.
The firefighters had the coats, known as turnouts, that they bought using money from last year”s fundraiser on display Saturday night. All together, they cost $14,000, Kane said.
He said they wanted to show the people who came to the event where their money was going.
The department was also able to give $6,000 to its scholarship fund and donated money to help build a fence for a little league baseball team.
“We came out to support these men, we need more people like them in America,” Manny Borges, an event attendee, said.
He and his wife Betty said they had a good time, enjoyed the food, and while they didn”t win the item they bid for in the silent auction, were happy to give to what they consider to be a good cause.
“Being a volunteer, it”s something I do because it”s a passion, and events like these really help us out,” Hirscher said.
