Cellarbration raises money for scholarships
Richard Byrd/Columbia Basin Herald The ATEC building at Big Bend Community College was packed with items up for auction and people to bid on them Saturday night during Cellarbration.
Richard Byrd/Columbia Basin Herald Most attendees at Saturday night’s Cellarbration checked out the items up for bid in the silent auction with a glass a wine in their hand.
MOSES LAKE — Winery tasting room or college building? It was hard to tell in the ATEC building at Big Bend Community College Saturday night, as people throughout the community came out to support a cause that has aided countless students throughout the years.
Cellarbration has been put on by the Big Bend Community College Foundation (BBCCF) since 2002 and regularly sees hundreds of people support the cause of raising money to provide scholarships for high school students, professional/technical program students and people who have been out of college and are returning to school.
When all the money is tallied, BBCCF Executive Director LeAnne Parton expects Saturday night’s event to have raised upwards of $110,000.
“Everything we raise tonight is for our foundation’s scholarships. We do three scholarships, so we do a scholarship for returning students, so if there is a gap of at least one year they can apply for the scholarship. We do all 19 high schools in our service district, one senior from each school and for the larger schools we do multiple scholarships,” Parton explained.
“And then we also do every single one of the professional and technical programs that we have here. We award at least one scholarship to those type of students.”
The event saw a variety of items up for bid in both the silent and live auctions, ranging from Seattle Mariners tickets, to a steelhead fishing trip for two on the Grande Ronde River in the live auction. The big-ticket item of the night was a 2013 Harley-Davidson Softail Flatline motorcyle, which the foundation had been selling raffle tickets for in the weeks leading up to Cellarbration.
Saturday night’s dinner spread was prepared by Timothy Grayson, executive chef at Whitworth University, with a panel of volunteers picking the wines to accompany the meals. In the end, Cellarbration wasn’t about simply bidding on items and sipping wine; the event was centered around bringing about change through the awarding of scholarships.
“When you read the stories of what these scholarships mean to the people that receive them, it makes everything worth it,” Judy Oakes, chair of the auction committee, stated.
Cellarbration also raises money for an emergency fund, which helps BBCC students when they encounter unforeseen financial emergencies.