For the last five years the big annual fundraiser, held by the Alliance Public Schools Foundation was online only due to COVID. This year the Foundation brought it back to an in person event.
Deciding to go back to a live fundraiser took immense planning, according to Jennifer Lanik, Director of the Alliance Public Schools Foundation.
“It took all of us all hands on deck for about 3 months straight. From decorating to collecting items for all 3 of the auctions, getting the venue, food, selling tickets. It was a solid 3 months of preparation. Just so fortunate to have the people on the board, cause everyone had their niche and what they were good at. Like Sandra, one of our board members, is like the Martha Stewart of décor. We came up with a theme and she just ran with it and had been planning for months about what it would look like and what we needed. Just everybody had their own role and really dove in. Cara, our tech person, she created a beautiful slide show for our sponsors and donors and then we also honored our wall of fame recipient for this year, Dr. Rod Romig, and in the past those things were separate, the annual event or the annual fundraiser and then the wall of fame reception. But this was we were able to combine the two and they had a VIP spot and some of his friends from the class of 1962 flew in and came. It was really really fun,” Lanik said about preparing for the fundraiser.
This year, in addition to bidding on various items, the Foundation also implemented a dessert auction, Lanik explained.
“Those other years were themed baskets at the Knight Museum that people could come and bid on them and then also those items were listed online at Kraupies Auction Site so people could bid that way as well. This live event we had silent auction items. We had 10 big ticket live auction items and then we also did what was called a dessert auction, which was really fun. We had about 10 local bakers bake their signature goods and the auctioneer, Mr. Sweeney. Each dessert went for over $100. Then the table could bid as a table and then we had plates and things if they wanted to eat their dessert at the table. Or they could bid as a single and take it with them,” said Lanik.
Close to 200 people took part in the fundraiser, also bidding on various auction items donated by corporate sponsors, businesses and individuals.
“It really means a lot when people choose to donate to us,” Lanik said.
The fundraiser held each year benefits the school district providing grants to teachers, scholarships to seniors and students who have graduated, wall of fame and excellence in education. The Foundation does not want to stop there, though.
“My goal, specifically as a director, is to figure out how we can have a wider array of impacting more teachers and more students in the district. We did a raffle at the beginning of the year and gave away $400 in Amazon gift cards to teachers just to start the year off. Just being able to do different things like that other than just scholarships and grants. Being more proactive throughout the year and making a wider spread of a difference through the district,” Lanik said.
Lanik is very grateful to the people who chose to donate to make the event a success, emphasizing her appreciation for their support.
“We had so many wonderful people that attended that were not only extremely generous but very supportive of things happening in our district and just our donors in general. We had monetary corporate sponsors and then we also had businesses and individuals that donated items for a silent auction. We can’t really raise money without generous donors. In a small town, everyone gets hit up for everything, and people can’t just give and give and give like that and sustain their business. It just really means a lot when people choose to donate to us and we just really appreciate that,” said Lanik.
Already, the APS Foundation is generating ideas for next years event. They hope to take the excitement around this years fundraiser into next years event.
“Usually after something like that you’re like, ‘Whew so glad that’s done.’ The thought of planning something else is just overwhelming and exhausting. But there were so many board members as we were cleaning up, the excitement of what we just accomplished and what we can do next time,” Lanik said.