The theme for Hopkinsville’s 73rd Rotary Auction, slated for April 17 -22 at the Memorial Building, is “Making an Impact,” auction chairman Brandon Killebrew announced Tuesday at the club’s weekly meeting. Killebrew said the theme honors the tradition and evolution of the auction.
“This theme gives us an opportunity to celebrate the decades of history and tradition of this auction while also celebrating the impact it has had in years past and will have now and in years to come,” he said.
Rotarians staged the first auction in 1951 and raised a little more than $3,000 for student loans. The annual fundraiser continued exclusively on WHOP radio for more than 30 years and eventually expanded to include a television broadcast on the former Hopkinsville station TV-43.
The club has been able to pivot with various platforms as technology offered different options, including WHOP, cable television and the internet.
The club has also expanded how it uses the money generated at the auction. Hundreds of local high school graduates have received Rotary scholarships to attend Hopkinsville Community College tuition-free for up to two years, and a new Rotary Impact project provides scholarships to students who will become teachers in Christian County Public Schools.
In addition, the club established a Rotary Foundation that distributed $80,000 in grants last year to local organizations that support youth programs.
Killebrew said he has not set a goal for the 2023 auction.
Last year’s auction also did not have a goal. That effort set a new record for the Rotary Auction with a final tally of $536,335.
Killebrew is controller for the Huhtamaki plant in Hopkinsville. He and his wife, Kiley Killebrew, own J. Schrecker Jewelry. She is also a Rotarian.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
