Beasley Reece, CBS-3 sports director, will be the celebrity auctioneer at this year’s “Beat the Winter Blues” dinner and auction.
The event, put on by the Shamong Foundation for Educational Excellence, will take place Friday, Feb. 24, from 7 p.m. to midnight.
Volunteer and foundation trustee Chris Rollins said the sixth-annual event is the biggest fundraiser for the foundation. This year, the dinner and auction will be at Lucien’s Manor in Berlin.
“It’s just a great night out,” Rollins said, noting there will be live auctions, silent auctions and ticket auctions on items like gift baskets.
He said the foundation, which is run entirely by volunteers, hopes to raise $30,000 this year.
“We support the Indian Mills schools by supporting creative and innovative programming through the awarding of grants,” Rollins said.
There is a peer review of committee of volunteers and teachers who decide which programs to fund.
“We tend to fund either in the arts or things that are technology-based,” Rollins said. “Our goal is to spend as much of it as we possibly can. We’re not trying to amass a big endowment or anything like that. We don’t supplement the schools’ operational budget, so the foundation is not affected as much by the economy.
“We have a wonderful relationship with the school board and with the principals and with the teachers, but we don’t see our role as being engaged in that in any way. We’re really looking at the merits of each of the grant applications that we get.
“If it’s a creative and innovative program that brings something of value, something unique to the kids — then we’re going to try and fund that.”
Rollins, who has been with the foundation for two years, pointed to two grants funded by the foundation: one, a program where students visited Carnegie Hall and another, a cultural exchange with Kenya.
Tom Brooks, a volunteer and trustee for four years, is usually the foundation’s top ticket seller.
So far, he has sold about 50 — and is hoping the foundation sells 250 tickets this year.
Brooks, whose daughter is in third-grade along with Rollins’ daughter, said he joined to help in the community, “give something back, help the children.”
The auction includes items such four tickets to see the New York Yankees play the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park.
Another item yields four tickets to see the Phillies in August.
A Ron Hextall game-used stick autographed by the entire Flyers team is also up for bid — as are free portraits, house power washing, spring cleanup, assorted cosmetics for men and women, piano lessons and driveway sealing.
To purchase tickets, which cost $60, call Brooks at (609) 953–3316.
