HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – The Hopkinsville Rotary Auction ended last night, after a long week of Rotarians, community leaders, and members bidding on hundreds of items to help raise money for the Rotary Scholars Program, Hopkinsville Rotary Foundation and the Rotary Impact Program.
The total money raised at the end of the event was a whopping $634,383.98, a new record for the event. This annual auction continues to grow each year, with last year’s funds coming to just over $560,000.
Rotary Scholars raises money for youth and education, as it allows any student in Christian County that graduates high school and meets minimum requirements to attend Hopkinsville Community College free for two years, according to Landan Stallons, this year’s auction chair and Vice President Commercial Banking at Planters Bank.
This year’s Rotary Auction theme was titled Financing our Future, a theme that culminates what the auction has done for local youth in the past and a nod to Stallons career. “We’re trying to finance their (local youth) future because they are our future, and I hope to help them as much as possible,” Stallons told Christian County Now.
11 grants were given during the event. The last grant was awarded to the Christian County Literacy Council in the amount of $10,000. This donation will help launch their summer program, giving children ages four through 17 the opportunity to explore interests and career options.
“This camp, every day, will cover a different topic,” Francene Gilmer, Executive Director of CCLC said. “One will focus on art, another on music, one on culinary skills and then 9th through 12th graders will work on career development.”
Overall, Rotary has awarded $151,000 total in grants this year for youth education. Stallons weighed in on why this event is so important to the community, as well as the hard work behind the scenes preparing for the event each year.
“Since we’ve been doing this for 75 years, it feels like the whole community wants to be involved and give back,” he told Christian County Now. “It’s a lot of fun being auction chairman, and it’s about a year’s worth of work. I am honored to get to do this.”
Stallons announced Saturday night that next year’s chairman of the Rotary Auction will be Brett Pritchett, Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County’s Learning Coordinator.
| DON’T MISS A STORY: Click here to sign up for our free weekly email newsletter