The Hopkinsville Rotary Club raised more than half a million dollars at its 72nd annual auction, exceeding last year’s record mark by roughly 35%.
The final tally was $536,335, auction chairman Andrew Wilson announced late Sunday morning.
“I didn’t set a goal. I had one in my head, but I felt like if we had a good product we would be happy with what happened on Saturday night,” Wilson said immediately after the last item, a $50 country ham, was sold at the Memorial Building.
Wilson, a mortgage broker, themed the auction “A Volunteer Tradition” as a nod to his Tennessee roots. Shortly before the auction wrapped up on the final night, he switched his navy blue Rotary shirt for a bright orange Tennessee Volunteer top.
The auction proceeds included $129,474 from the main auction that was broadcast live for six nights, plus $33,457 in food sales and $373,404 in cash donations and pledges.
The total raised in 2021 was $397,833.
The auction started in the 1950s to raise money for college loans, but in the last decade the focus has shifted to Hopkinsville Community College scholarships. Every student who graduates from high school in Christian County, with a minimum 2.5 grade-point average, is eligible to attend HCC tuition-free for two years as a Rotary Scholar.
The auction’s fundraising power in recent years allowed the club to announce in early 2021 that it had established the Hopkinsville Rotary Foundation. The charitable endowment is managed through Baird, formerly Hilliard-Lyons.
Every night of the 2022 auction, grants from the foundation to the community were presented. The largest gift, for $222,000, goes to the HCC Scholars program. Other grants awarded during the week were:
- Troy Goode scholarship: $5,000 for the scholarship in memory of the high school agriculture teacher
- Men2Be: $5,000 to fund a tutoring program
- Industry All-Stars at Gateway Academy): $20,000 to fund student advanced trade certifications for workforce readiness
- Dyslexia Association of the Pennyrile: $10,000 to help fund screenings and the organization’s efforts
- Campanile Productions: $10,000 to help fund scholarships and supplies for student
- summer camps
- Sanctuary Inc.: $5,000 to help fund supplies and items for children staying in the shelter
- Joy Closet: $10,000 to supply items for their back-to-school event with clothes, school supplies and haircuts for foster children
- Hopkinsville-Christian County YMCA: $15,000 to help fund up to 5,000 meals in the new weekend food program
Wilson will be the Rotary Club president next year. The auction chairman in 2023 will be Brandon Killebrew.
Week’s Tally
- Monday: $143,822
- Tuesday: $57,829
- Wednesday: $72,245
- Thursday: $43,051
- Friday: $40,278
- Saturday: $179,110
- Total: $536,335
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.
