The Kiwanis are hosting the 30th annual radio auction Saturday, Feb.3. The items are at the Park District office and can be viewed in person, or bids will be taken over the phone.
Past Kiwanis president David Morse will be helping again with this year’s event.
“We go out and solicit donations from local businesses to donate items and services that we can auction off to raise money for Harrisburg Youth Athletics,” Morse said. “All of the items are donated by individual citizens and the businesses of our community.”
All of the funds raised benefit the programs run by HYA.
“We donate 100% of the money to Harrisburg Youth Athletics, so it goes to their summer’s sports program and helps pay all of the fees that are necessary for the park district to run,” Morse said. “There’s a lot of things that go into (the costs) that people don’t realize like the groundskeeping, paying for the umpires, all that kind of stuff.”
Those interested in purchasing an item can tune in to WEBQ 102.3 FM this Saturday to hear if any items are of interest. There are multiple ways to browse and purchase items from the auction.
“People are welcome to come there live and look at the items, but (the items) are also loaded up on the park district’s website ahead of time,” Morse said. “We have three different pages of items that usually (contain) three to four items on each page or so, and we describe them, and people call in and bid on the items.”
The radio auction relies on volunteers to help answer the phones.
“We’ve had some great participation from Key Club members in the past in these things, and I’ll expect no different,” Morse said. “(The members will) typically come up there, and everybody likes a friendly voice on the phone, and a lot of the Key Club (volunteers) man the phones for us and take the bids.”
Key Club volunteers can also help sell the items.
“When you’re in business, you put your best face forward and your most friendly faces out there, so we put our most friendly voices on the phone, and that’s you, young folks,” Morse concluded with a laugh.
Any current members who wish to sign up can wait until the slots are filled up. Key Club President Paige Potts participated in last year’s radio auction event.
“I have done the radio auction the past two years, and I have loved doing it and can’t wait to do it again this year,“ Potts said. “It is important for club members to participate because they get to help raise money for a great cause in our community and have fun while doing it.”
The items are never the same and range from small to big items.
“The items change from year to year, but we have some really nice donors that seem to donate some large ticket items every year, whether it be a hearing aid or maybe a lawn tractor, so we have some good supporters who donate generously every year,” Morse said.
Morse looks forward to another successful radio auction this year.
“I don’t think in the last five or six years there’s been any auction that would not raise in excess of $10,000, and last year was somewhere over $15,000,” Morse said. “It’s really great. We have a good community.”
