For the eighth year in a row, Sue’s Clotheslines will once again host its annual holiday silent auction to help raise funds for the Creston Ministerial Association’s annual Christmas hamper program.
The auction starts on Nov. 16, and 18 items valued at a total of $3,800 will be up for bidding until 4 p.m. on Nov. 28.
Given how difficult this year has been for many due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, store owner Sue Thomas said she feels that it’s even more crucial to donate this year.
“I just think this is the right thing to do,” said Thomas. “There are people out there that don’t have the opportunity to have a Christmas dinner, so I want to be some small part of making that happen for them.”
Residents can place their bids by filling out a bid sheet found inside the store. Auction items — which include a variety of Christmas baskets, a local handmade quilt and more — are on display at the store’s window front for bidders to see.
“Most of them are donated, or my staff member Irene Kusiak and myself will do up baskets. Throughout the year, we’re buying stuff and making up Christmas baskets,” said Thomas. “We go out throughout the whole year, buy stuff, make a basket and put it up for auction.”
She added that the initiative is a year-round effort.
“The minute that this auction ends, we start on next year’s,” she said.
In addition to donating the funds raised through the auction, the store is also donating more than $3,500 to the hamper program, a sum that was raised by selling masks that were made by Kusiak.
“Irene — who is a seamstress by trade — has been whipping them out since June and I’ve been selling them,” said Thomas.
In 2019, the store donated more than $6,100 to the hamper program. This year, Thomas is hoping to raise and donate $8,000.
“I just feel like I’m a facilitator; I’m gathering all the stuff and putting it in the window. It really is a community event,” she said.
From 2013 to 2019, the annual auction has donated $26,000 to the hamper program.
“We’ll be over the $30,000 by the time we do everything. I feel very proud of my community and I’m grateful they support me in this charity of course,” she said.
READ MORE: Sue’s Clotheslines hosting seventh fundraiser for Creston Christmas hampers
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