Kiwanis Club seeks aid as donations for auction fall short of projections

ORONO — The Orono-Old Town Kiwanis Club needs help.

Donations for the club’s annual auction have fallen off in recent years, said Kiwanian Clair G. Wood, who is heading this year’s auction committee.

“You might say our success has been our downfall,” he said Tuesday night just before the club’s meeting at the Black Bear Inn. “Other clubs and organizations have seen our success and began to emulate us.” The garage sale at Pickering Square in Bangor and the Bangor Rotary’s annual auction have been cutting into the donations that traditionally went to the Orono-Old Town Kiwanis Club. In years past, the club raised between $35,000 and $45,000 annually that was then distributed to worthy causes throughout the greater Bangor area.

Club Secretary Robert Covell, a past president, said this year’s sale which will be held starting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 21, and continuing July 22 and 23, will be the club’s 47th annual auction. The first auction was held at the Orono airport. Over the years, the club has contributed more than a half million dollars to the community. The auction is its prime fund-raiser.

The Kiwanis Club, said Covell, is an international service organization that specializes primarily in projects for the young, senior citizens and the community in general.

The club has 85 members from Old Town and Orono and is always willing to take on more members, men or women. The only requirement, said past president George Gonyar, is that the person be willing to give time and service to the community.

Nationally the Kiwanis Club has one of the smallest enrollments among service clubs, said Covell, but it leads all other clubs in the amount of money it donates to the communities.

The club eventually acquired its own land near the intersection of Forest and Stillwater avenues and has pieced together a complex that houses a barn and concession and sale areas.

Gonyar added that the auction was more than just a fund-raiser for the area. It is a social event that people look forward to each year, he said.

At one time it was the only fund-raising event of its kind in the area. Anyone in the two communities or surrounding towns who had white goods to dispose of or furniture to donate thought of the Kiwanis Club. Collection efforts go on throughout the year and goods are stockpiled at the club’s barn for the summer sale.

“We run a loosey-goosey auction,” said Gonyar, “and we try to have a lot of fun. All the auctioneers are volunteers and they try to put as much fun into it as they can.”

“There are no gimmicks. Everyone gets a fair deal,” said Covell.

“This year we are very much in need of goods,” said Gonyar. Anyone with donations, whether services, new goods from businesses, antiques, household goods, dishes, white goods, furniture, TVs, bicycles, need only call 866-4816 and leave a message on the answering machine. Club members will be by to pick up the goods.

Gonyar said they get so many white goods donated that they have established an area where the appliances are sold exclusively.

In addition to the auction and white goods sale, there will also be a Trash and Treasure Barn, a Book Barn, a Toy Barn, and a snack booth, all attended by club volunteers.