The Hopkinsville Rotary Club set another record in fundraising at its annual auction by raising $634,383.98, auction chairman Landan Stallons announced late Saturday at the conclusion of the weeklong event at the Memorial Building.
The 75th auction crushed last year’s mark by roughly $74,000 thanks to increases in all three areas of the annual fundraiser. This was the fourth consecutive year the auction raised more than $500,000 and the first time it exceeded $600,000.
By the numbers
The main auction sold 783 items for $133,860, up from $107,347 last year.
The Diner & Sweet Shop generated $42,067.08, compared to $37,799.48 last year.
Rotarians raised 72% of this year’s overall tally with $458,456.90 in cash contributions to the Hour and Goat clubs. Last year’s total was $414,928.
The nightly tally
- Monday: $130,153.76
- Tuesday: $77,831. 86
- Wednesday: $42,689.30
- Thursday: $53,303.57
- Friday: $143,713.81
- Saturday: $186,691.68
Advancing education
The auction raises money for the Rotary Scholars program at Hopkinsville Community College — and for other educational and community programs, several of which received grants during the week.
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The Rotary Scholars Program offers high school graduates at public and private schools in Christian County the opportunity to attend HCC tuition-free for two years. Since the program was established in 2012, it has helped more than 1,500 students attend the local college on scholarship.
Next up
Traditionally the auction chair becomes the next club president, so Stallons, who is vice president for commercial lending at Planters Bank, will step into that roll when Kelly Gates completes her year as president.
Next year’s auction chair will be Brett Pritchett. A former history teacher at University Heights Academy, he is employed as the learning coordinator at the Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
