PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Despite a technical glitch during this year’s Presque Isle Rotary Club’s 66th annual Radio-TV Auction that caused the club to lose one hour of air time Dec. 4, auction officials are pleased with how Rotarians pulled together to still have a successful event.
“Essentially a cable had been disconnected from Time Warner locally. They were working on the Northeastland Hotel that day and something got disconnected in a closet upstairs,” said Scott Violette, incoming president and auction chair. “We had to wait for the maintenance man and Time Warner Cable workers to get there. Now they’re going to run a dedicated line just for the auction so that won’t happen in the future.
“What we ended up doing was transferring the hour that we lost to the next night, so from 7-8 p.m. Thursday night we ran both Wednesday and Thursday night items,” he said. “The Rotarians that were there did a great job to manage through it and we were still able to have a very successful night. Thank you to all who stayed calm, worked through solutions, and handled a tough situation with hard work and determination! I’m very proud to be part of this club.”
Two additional phones and even more Rotarians were brought in to handle the volume of calls Thursday night.
Violette said the club raised — with advertising — about $40,000 from the regular auction.
“We raised about $10,000 in advertisements and cash donations and just over $30,000 in regular auction proceeds,” he said, “of which, $15,500 will be paid out to the six charities. The remaining will cover our production costs and fill the Rotary accounts for the year. We raised an additional $1,300 for the Wintergreen Arts Center through our art auction.”
The six area non-profit organizations that were chosen for funding included the Ronald McDonald House, Aroostook County Action Program, Greater Haystack Trail Association, Quoggy Jo Ski Club, Star City ATV Club and the Easton Elementary School.
This year’s special project, the Aroostook House of Comfort, raised over $406,000 — a club record — to help construct a six-bed, state-of-the-art hospice facility in Presque Isle.
Proceeds from the auction will also support many other community projects throughout the entire year through the Rotary Youth Fund, Scholarship Fund, General Fund and World Community Service Fund.
Rotary President Ralph McPherson said he was equally pleased with this year’s event.
“This year’s Rotary theme is ‘Engage Rotary — Change Lives.’ Each year for the past 66 years, the Rotary Club of Presque Isle has hosted an auction to support outstanding community charities,” he said. “How appropriate the theme of engaging and changing. That’s exactly what we do together when we participate in the auction. The bids and pledges go to many worthwhile causes that affect lives throughout our region.
“We are proud of our club and community, especially when we come together to raise money for worthy causes,” said McPherson. “Each time people make a bid or donation, they engage Rotary and change a life.”
For more information on the Presque Isle Rotary Club, log onto www.presqueislerotary.com.
