SEQUIM — Stephen Rosales’ “midlife crisis” — actually his 2005 Corvette — that he sold at the Boys & Girls Club auction on Saturday boosted fundraising by $29,000.
The auction raised about $180,000.
Rosales said he wasn’t sure if the new owner wanted his name released yet.
“Afterwards, another guy came up and said that he knew we were trying to get $30,000 for the Corvette, so he donated another $1,000 to the scholarship fund,” Rosales said.
“He said he would continue to give to the club in the coming years, too.”
About 300 people turned up to bid at the auction, said Rosales, 52, who drives the Boys & Girls Club bus that takes children on field trips.
The proceeds from the Corvette will go to a scholarship fund for the club, which has branches in both Sequim and Port Angeles.
His plan is to endow a fund that will provide at least $1,000 in scholarships annually, starting next May and continuing for 15 years or longer.
“We were really happy because in past years we’ve tried to auction off cars and it just hasn’t worked,” he said.
Extra donation
Even though the minimum bid was set at $30,000, Rosales said with the extra $1,000 donation, it was close enough.
“It is pretty incredible that someone would come to an auction and bid that much on an item,” he said.
The fund will be named for his parents, Margarethe and Louis Rosales of El Paso, Texas, and his wife Kim’s father and mother, Bryce and Gail Fish of Sequim.
The Sequim Education Foundation will administer the scholarship fund.
The Corvette was the only item in Saturday’s event that had a minimum bid, said club resource development director Stacy Ceder.
“I feel like when I present the kids with the scholarship, I’ll feel really good about getting rid of the car,” Rosales said.
“When the kids start the process for applying, I’ll be really excited about it.
“Who knows? Maybe one of the kids who gets the scholarship will go off and do great things and remember the club.
“We are rolling the dice in that way.
“This is a really great place for kids,” Rosales said.
Other items
Other items included jewelry, gift certificates and trip packages.
They went with the 21st annual auction-dinner’s “under the sea” theme, which inspired club kids to draw mermaids and octopi by tracing around their bodies and adding tails and tentacles.
Another big winner was the Snack Attack Program, which provides food for 200 to 300 children every day, Rosales said.
The program drew $45,000 through the auction, he said.
Helping to encourage bidders were children who benefit from Snack Attack.
“We had four sets of twins come to talk about the program,” he said.
“We actually have nine sets of twins that attend the club, but four sets came to talk about the program.”
Although Saturday’s auction take was down by about 10 percent from past years, Rosales said that it was better than expected.
“With the economy the way it is, we just didn’t know,” he said.
“We set a goal and we reached it, so we are pretty happy about that.”
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladaily news.com.