SEQUIM — Follow the yellow brick road the second weekend of November to a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula.
The groups will host The Wizard of Oz, its 25th annual auction and dinner, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9 at the Sequim unit of the clubs at 400 W. Fir St.
Tickets cost $125 per person and are available now by calling 360-683-8095 or emailing jgray@bgc-op.org.
The Sequim clubhouse will be transformed from a bustling after-school center to the magical Land of Oz for the dinner and auction, organizers say.
The clubs will celebrate 25 years of community support and welcome back founding board members, including Joe Hawe.
The Cedars at Dungeness will cater the meal. The Port Angeles High School Symphony will perform. And the Wizard of Oz — the master of ceremonies — will be Todd Orloff, KONP radio general manager.
Attendees will be greeted by club kids dressed as Dorothy, Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion, who will tell why the clubhouses in Sequim and Port Angeles are their “no place like home.”
Guests will be able to bid on more than 200 auction items, including one-of-a-kind handcrafted table, quilts, Coach purses, fishing trips, Emblem 3 concert tickets, private dinners, and fine wines, along with restaurant and service gift certificates.
They’ll also have the chance to raise their paddles effort to provide quality mentors and relationships to children who access the clubs.
The Auction & Dinner is the Clubs’ largest fundraising effort of the year and contributes nearly 20 percent of the annual operating budget.
Proceeds benefit children at both the Carroll C. Kendall in Sequim and the Mount Angeles Unit in Port Angeles.
The two clubhouses serve more than 350 youth each day.
The organization offers after-school and summer activities, state-licensed childcare, and kindergarten enrichment and operates teen centers.
For more information, call 360-683-8095 or visit www.bgc-op.org.