Zion Canyon Rotary Club auction raises over $9,000 for education

The annual Zion Canyon Rotary Club “Auction for Education” raised nearly $10,000 on Saturday, October 24. The event took place on the front lawn of the Springdale Elementary School. Proceeds from the auction will both benefit the Springdale Elementary School and be used for fund scholarships for some graduating Hurricane High School seniors as well. Additionally, the funds will help pay for some of the Zion Canyon Rotary Club expenses. The funds raised by the Auction for Education will be matched by a grant from the Beverly Sorenson Foundation.

Rotary Club of Zion Canyon President Jill Burt said that the fundraiser exceeded all their expectations and that the money raised was an all-time record for the event.

“We feel really great,” Burt said. “We were able to exceed all of the goals we set for ourselves with the commitments we’ve made to help fund some programs through the [Springdale] elementary and through Hurricane High scholarships.”

Burt said that the main purpose of the auction is to support Springdale Elementary School’s art and music programs.

“They need extra help with their funding,” Burt said. “Otherwise it would be dropped. They go after the Beverly Taylor Sorenson matching grant. If we match the grant, it enables them to keep their art and music program. In addition, we provide two scholarships to graduating seniors at Hurricane High from what we consider the Zion Canyon corridor.”

An estimated 100 people showed up for the event, which was divided into two auctions: a silent auction for the smaller items and a live auction for the big-ticket items. Kathy LaFave was the auctioneer for the live auction, something she has done at past art auctions for many years. The number of participants in the live auction exceeded what the organizers were anticipating, and they actually ran out of bidding paddles at one point. Every item available for bidding was sold. Burt said that this year’s auction exceeded the previous year’s effort by around 46 percent.

“We had some great packages,” Burt said. “A Yellowstone [National Park] package. I think they call it the Trail of the Wolf Package, where you could go up there during the winter. We had Sedona in Oak Creek Canyon Lodge package and Pink Jeep Tours. We had a Death Valley two night stay and golf package. Our most famous artist Kate Starling donated a piece of art that went for a substantial amount of money. We just had a huge outpouring of community support.”

In addition to the two auctions, local students from Springdale Elementary performed several musical numbers.

“The students from the elementary participated through song and their drums,” Burt said. “The drums that they used were actually purchased from funds from previous art auctions.”

Burt also said that The Independent’s own publisher Josh Warburton, who is a Rotary club member himself, helped entertain the crowd with his musical talents.

“Music by Josh,” Burt said. “He kept everyone from attacking us [while the final results were tallied]. It was awesome.”

Burt pointed out that the Zion Canyon Rotary Club has only been in existence for a few years and despite their relatively new status, has already been able to help better the communities of the Zion Canyon area.

“We are dedicated to the Springdale community and making it a better place to live,” she said.

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