Crowd rocks the 70s at Boys and Girls Club auction
Big hair and costumes with the aura of the 1970s were the order of the evening at the Boys and Girls Club auction Saturday.
MOSES LAKE - It was platform shoes, silver sequins, gold lame and white leisure suits in a good cause at the Boys and Girls Club auction Saturday night.
It was such a good cause, as far as Patty Laughrey was concerned, that she donated a diamond ring she won for resale. Laughrey, a club boardmember, said the organization provides something important for kids, for their parents and the community. When it was auctioned the ring brought about 50 percent above its announced retail value.
Club Director Brant Mayo estimated the club did slightly more than $150,000 in gross sales, which is a little better than 2012.
"Saturday Night Fever" was the theme, and the 1970s, and the 1960s for that matter, were reborn at the ATEC building on the campus of Big Bend Community College.
Kim Ashley sported a bright red and purple halter jumpsuit, spangled with sequins, all in a good cause. Ashley is a family law attorney, she said, "and I'm all for giving kids something good and healthy to do while parents are working."
Tony Vehrs and his wife went to Goodwill and found a perfect 1970s movie fur coat, and Vehrs gallantly wore it to the dinner - and the open-neck shirt, and the chains. "They (Boys and Girls Club) do a lot of good things in the community," he said.
There are a lot of organizations that do good work and need support, Vehrs said, and Boys and Girls Club is one of the most important.
"I think that there are so many kids out there that need help. So many parents that need support," Emily Leavitt said. Leavitt found a halter-plunging-neckline-jumpsuit number online, complete with really really wide legs.
"It's just fun," Vehrs said, and the dinner and costume party is the biggest annual fundraiser for the club, said Don McGraw, president of the club's board of directors.
"It's a positive place for kids," McGraw said. The club makes a difference in the lives of many of the kids who come through the doors, he said.
Longtime employee Kelly Hansen said the club had made a difference in her life. She changed her college major from education to social work because she thinks it's an effective way to help the kids like the ones she meets at the club. She has seen the change in kids who know someone cares, she said.
No matter how tough a child's life has been, that child can succeed with care and attention, Hansen said.