Thanks to the generosity of community members and local businesses, the Eatonia Rec Board’s Online Auction brought in more than three times what they initially expected.

Approximately 120 items were donated to the fundraiser by individuals, families and businesses from Eatonia and area including, Leader, Kindersley, Eston, Empress and Coleville.

Randi Somerville is a Rec Board member and said the items ranged from homemade baking to large ticket items including canola seed.

“We had a lot of great items and yes, we had some baking which always seems to go over well, especially with the holidays and then we had everything from bags of canola seed, a generator, Traeger grill, lentil seeds and some other ag chemicals – we are just very appreciative of everything that was donated and just really want to thank everyone whether they donated or bid, it means alot to us”.

The largest bid was for approximately $4000 for 4T of lentil seeds, however, the smaller ticket items also turned quite a profit for the Rec Board with a dozen (of Donna’s) cinnamon buns going for a sharp $300.

The Eatonia Rec Board blew their original expectation of $10,000 out of the water, bringing in a whopping $35,305.

Somerville stated that they decided to host the online auction as their other fundraising plans had been squashed earlier this year.

“Our annual Sportsman Dinner is usually one of our main fundraisers and that got cancelled pretty much right at the beginning of the pandemic so we just put our heads together to see what we could do and decided to run with it, it just took off, people started bidding right away and then we got more donations and we are just really happy with the result”.

She shared that Eatonia has a reputation of supporting their own community and they along with everyone from the area who made bids on the items, all helped to make this fundraiser more successful then they thought possible.

“They say it takes a village, in this case many villages, and we are just so grateful for everyone’s support”, said Somerville.

This may have been the first online auction but Somerville stated it may not be the last as they are looking at possibly hosting another one in the spring, however, like the rest of us, they are waiting to see what happens with the pandemic.

The money raised will be used for the maintenance and operation of the swimming pool and rink, two facilities that Somerville said she is happy that the community can continue to enjoy as they are both rely on grants and fundraisers, such as this very successful online auction.