Wizards, witches and house elves

MOSES LAKE — The ATEC Building at Big Bend Community College was awash with magic Saturday, as witches, wizards and the occasional house elf turned out for “A Night at Hogwarts,” to raise funds for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Columbia Basin.

“It was great, wasn't it?” said Boys & Girls Club Executive Director Kim Pope. “Between the decorating and the people that dress up when they come, they really embrace whatever our theme is for the year. That's one of the reasons that we do it; we really want to capture that ambiance.”’

The night was certainly a success for the club. Pope was still working on the exact figures at press time, but she said preliminary numbers were in excess of $200,000. A raffle for a house donated by CAD Homes of Moses Lake didn’t sell enough tickets for the actual house to be built, but the net proceeds were split between the club and the winner, to the tune of about $35,000 apiece, Pope said.

The transformation of the ATEC Building was, well, magical. A model of the front end of the Hogwarts Express protruded from the wall at the entrance to the building. The wine pouring station was graced with a fuming cauldron, and the dining area was a recreation of Hogwarts’ Great Hall, with long rectangular tables instead of the usual round ones. Nearly everyone wore some sort of wizardly attire, even if it was only a tie or a scarf proclaiming them a Slytherin, a Ravenclaw, a Gryffindor or a Hufflepuff. Many also sported black robes befitting their wizardly attire, and here and there a pink-suited Dolores Umbridge or a long-bearded Dumbledore could be sighted.

The real magic, though, was in the support of the cause at hand. There were 419 registered bidders for the auction, both in person and online, Pope said. There were 290 tickets available for the banquet, which sold out a couple of months before the event. The live auction, conducted by Chuck Yarbro Jr., consisted of 20 items, many of which involved getaways or catered parties for two or four or eight people. The silent auction filled table after table with gift baskets, wine, jewelry and entertainment. There was also the Enchanted Diamond Draw, in which participants paid $100 for a shot at a 2.5-carat diamond from Miller’s Fine Jewelers, and the Magical Steal, where $100 gave the winner the chance to steal one of the live auction items before bidding started. The winner chose a spa day extravaganza, whereupon Essentials Skin and Wellness, which donated the item, promptly donated another for the live auction.

While attendees enjoyed a dinner catered by Firehouse BBQ, they had a chance to see a video that included kids talking about what they loved about the Boys and Girls Club along with a testimonial from Katie Phipps, now the principal at Warden High School.

“Many years ago, it was very unexpected, but I became a single mom,” Phipps said. “My biggest struggle was finding care for them after school, and I was terrified. I just wanted my children to never know what my struggles were; I certainly never wanted my children to ever feel like I had left them.”

A friend told her about the Boys and Girls Club, Phipps said, where they could be bused after school and find a meal, activities and a homework room if they needed it.

“Not only was a financial burden lifted off me, but my children loved it,” Phipps said. “Sometimes I’d come and pick them up, and they'd be deep in an activity and the last thing they wanted was to leave their activity. They were happy. And as a single mom, happy kids is what we strive for.”

That’s what the money goes for from the auction, Pope said.

“We really rely on this particular fundraiser to help us with all of our operating costs through the year,” Pope said. “We keep our fees low to families; it's $15 a month for a child to come to our McGraw Clubhouse. It's inexpensive for a family to come here, (but) it's not inexpensive to run the club.”

The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Columbia Basin operates six clubhouses at or near schools in Moses Lake. Every child who comes to the club after school gets a meal, Pope said, because for many of them, it’s the last thing they’ll eat that day.

Kids also get socialization at the club they might not get otherwise, she added.

“They get to make friends with kids from other schools, too,” Pope said. “I love that part of it. Because then when they go to middle school, they're gonna have friends that are built-in.”

There was another piece of news at the auction, Pope announced. The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Columbia Basin is set to expand into Kittitas County, with the first club opening at Kittitas Elementary School in January.

“I was working with the former superintendent … at Kittitas School District,” said Ann Leichleiter, a retired school principal who spearheaded the effort to bring the Boys & Girls Club to Kittitas. “We were talking about how there's no daycare or after-school program for our kids. It's a daycare desert.”

Leichleitner had been acquainted with the Boys & Girls Club on the west side, she said, and so she reached out to the club in Moses Lake, which was the nearest program to Kittitas. Kittitas Elementary School has set aside two portable buildings, which will serve the school’s student body of about 240 children. The county board of commissioners is interested in expanding the program further, she added, into Ellensburg, Cle Elum-Roslyn and even Easton.

The money raised at Saturday’s auction will stay in Moses Lake, Pope explained; Kittitas will fund its own program.

“We would not be here if it wasn't for our community,” she said. “There's no way we'd have our doors open if it wasn't for the people that live here and support us … One of the best references we have is when kids leave at the end of the day and they don't want to go home. It's like ‘Aw, did you have to pick me up now? Can I stay a little longer? When are we coming back tomorrow?’ That is exactly what we want to hear.”

Joel Martin may be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com.