We Lit Up the Night!

Posted by Rick Thielen 
 
 
Well, we did it! We were able to Light the Night...Light Up Rotary!

I want to take this opportunity to thank our Sponsors, our performers, our bidders, the Explorer and Interact students, all of my fellow Rotarians and of course our guests for making last Saturday night a completely enjoyable and successful 31st Annual Auction! Also, thank you for your continued commitment to Rotary to those who donated the many Live and Silent Auction offerings and for the very generous cash donations.  It was an awesome time and I think everyone enjoyed themselves immensely (I know the people who expressed that to me were quite sincere).

We are still compiling the final numbers, but I know in the end, we will have done good. Rest assured that we did build good will and better friendships and it was most certainly beneficial to all concerned!

For those of you who came out Saturday morning to help setup, thank you for your time and effort. It was very much appreciated and as the saying goes, many hands...! 

I want to thank my committee for an amazing job well done. Bob Venzel, Jeff Normand, Cindy Russeau, Laura Dosch, Wayne Koskinen, Jeri Wendt, Joanie Asendorf, Charlie Davies, John Wlodarski, Less Domini, Mary McConnell, Julie Kerr, Ellie McManus, Susan Nelson, Janel Haas and Helene Zielinski. It was a privilege and honor, not to mention a delight, to have been able to work with such a dedicated and energetic group of fellow Rotarians. This team went far and beyond "Service Above Self". However, I must recognize three individuals for whom the Auction would simply not happen without their continued commitment (mostly behind the scenes) and tireless involvement: Alison Frye, Ken Robinson and Matt Matuga. THANK YOU ALL!

Finally, I want to thank Jon Ahlberg and the Club Board for this opportunity to Chair the Auction. It was actually a pretty fun experience and certainly a unique opportunity to be able to make a difference and to serve Rotary. I sincerely believe that it only takes one person to light a candle, then another, and another, until there is enough light to light up the world.
 
We all did just that, we did Light the Night...Light Up Rotary!
 
Mark your calendars for next year's 32nd Annual Auction: February 6, 2016.
 
Thanks,
 
Rick Thielen 
2015 Auction Chair
 
PS - Special thanks to Patrick Abec, son of Cary and Dave Wise, and First Local Video for this great video coverage.  Click here to be directed to our Facebook page, like, watch, and share!