The American Associa-tion for University Women’s raffle, silent auction, lunch and fashion show marked one of its biggest fundraisers of the year, with all the money going to support education for young women and girls.
Proceeds from Thurs-day’s event at Whidbey Golf Club in Oak Harbor will go toward scholarships for high school seniors and sending seventh-grade girls to the summer camp Tech Trek.
Three senior women, one from each public high school on the island, will be chosen in April to receive a $2,000 merit-based scholarship.
Additionally, around 10 seventh-grade girls will be sent to Tech Trek, a week-long summer camp focused on science, technology, engineering and math.
“Tech Trek is one of our major missions,” said Ann Zimmerman, organizer of the event. “For this branch, and for the national group.”
It costs $1,000 to send each girl, she said.
Although much of the money is raised at fundraisers, she said many of the members will pay out of their own pocket to help send more students.
Although the numbers weren’t final, Zimmerman said the fundraiser went well over the $5,000 raised last year.
“We did very well,” she said.
The organization sold 100 tickets to Thursday’s event, and raffle tickets and silent auction items were also available to purchase. The 34 auction items and 25 raffle prizes were donated either by individuals or local businesses.
Zimmerman said community support and donations exceeded previous years.
“I think you could say the whole island supported us this year,” she said.
Deb Sholz, owner of One More Thing in Coupeville, provided the clothing and style tips for the fashion show.
Members of the organization served as models walking around the room as Sholz explained the looks, where they came from and what is “in” this year (which, Sholz said in the Pacific Northwest, almost always means casual and black).
Milli Stanton, a former AAUW president, said she always supports the event, and some years has even been lucky enough to win some of the raffles and silent auction items.
“It’s just a great event to get both our members and members of the community together to support scholarships,” she said.
