Town & Country Garden Club 2017 Awesome Auction Raises $32K for Durham

Awesome! Holiday shoppers at the Town & Country Garden Club
2017 Awesome Auction. Photo by Becky Wood.

Fundraising is the backbone of all non-profit organizations, but some groups really know how to get the cash flowing while having a joyful time. Consider the Town & Country Garden Club of Durham one of those wildly successful and joyful groups.

While the garden club boasts 60 members, their annual holiday Awesome Auctions brings in three times the attendance and includes women from other Durham garden clubs and also members of the general public. Auction monies are raised in the tens of thousands of dollars, and have been spread throughout Durham for support for projects for the Durham Public Schools Hub Farms, the Museum of Life and Science, scholarships to NC Beautiful, and many other organizations.

 

Garden club members sharing holiday joy.
Photo by Becky Wood.

Town and Country's 17th Annual Awesome Auction was held Wednesday Nov. 8, 2017, at the Hope Valley Country Club. About 187 attendees came out for the lunch and auction to bid and buy scores of gifts and items. Gross proceeds from the 2017 T&C Awesome Auction totaled $32,000. Garden club members will learn of net proceeds and vote on charitable allocation at their January meeting.

 

History

 

The Town & Country Garden Club was organized in 1964, and its annual fundraiser started out as a bake sale, raising a charitable profit of $53. The bake sale continued five more years and was then expanded to a Christmas greenery sale in 1970, netting $630. That small beginning has grown into an annual holiday auction, the aptly-name 'Awesome Auction,' raising about $35K in recent years.

 

Through its generous philanthropy the Town & Country Garden Club has contributed to 47 major projects of the Durham area over the last 40 years. These contributions include: beautification and landscaping plantings, donations and scholarships for local schools and various civic organizations, including work with the Ronald McDonald House, Museum of Life and Science, Healing Garden at Caring House, Durham Rescue Mission, contributions toward a cistern system at Durham Farmer’s Market, garden therapy workshops with Emerald Pond and the Caring House, and two significant projects in the Hope Valley neighborhood. The most recent projects include the Durham Public Schools Hub Farm, the Caring House Memory Gardens, and NC Beautiful scholarships.

 

Barbara Yowell, a longtime member said, “Our return to the community in over 50 years is more than $250,000! Not bad for a bunch of Town and Country gardeners!”

 

Rita Davis, Town & Country Garden Club, contributed to this article.