HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – The 76th Annual Rotary Auction in Hopkinsville has wrapped up, raising an enormous amount of money to support local youth. Over the span of six days, Rotarians and community members filled the War Memorial building auctioning off hundreds of items, raising a total of $618,428.67.
This comes close to last year’s total of $634,383.98, which was their largest auction to date. Brett Pritchett was this year’s Auction Chair, also serving as the Rotary Club of Hopkinsville Vice President.
During the auction, 15 grants were distributed to local organizations as money came in. These funds will permit a wide range of services such as providing local students with new laptops and enhancing school theater productions while also granting money for the local domestic violence shelter, a mobile book trailer, improvements to baseball fields and a variety of other local youth programs.
Awarded grants:
- Christian County Public School Education Foundation: $50,000
- Sanctuary Inc.: $25,000
- Jeffers Bend Environmental Center: $20,000
- Boys and Girls Club of Hopkinsville: $15,000
- Heritage Christian Academy: $10,000
- University Heights Academy: $10,000
- HCCLY Ruff Park: $10,000
- Hopkinsville YMCA: $10,000
- Hoptown Hoppers: $7,500
- Christian County 4-H: $5,000
- Men 2 Be: $5,000
- Pennyroyal Arts Council: $5,000
- Pennyrile Children’s Advocacy Center: $5,000
- Focus Now Youth Enrichment: $2,500
- Christian County Literacy Council: $2,500
The biggest donation to CCPS marks a new partnership with Hopkinsville Rotary. A statement said, “As the first installment of a ten-year commitment, this funding represents part of a total $500,000 investment in student programming, enabling our schools to enhance their academic, athletic, arts and other co-curricular opportunities.”
To reach this total, the rotary club auctioned off hams, jewelry, services, pizza for a year, facials, gift baskets, mowers, internet service for a year, local gift cards, artwork, golf lessons, fire chief for a day and so many more items and experiences during their livestream and in person. The Rotary Scholars Program, which gives two years of tuition-free schooling to any student who graduates high school in the Christian County area, will also be funded by the auction.
In conjunction Christian County 4-H students baked treats for the Rotary Sweet Shop, and the Diner crew sold over 200 pieces of smoked chicken along with fresh made Boston butts, with over 1,700 meals served to raise money.
The Rotary Club of Hopkinsville’s Annual Rotary Auction is one of the most successful publicly funded scholarship programs in the world, according to their website. It is also the largest single Rotary Club fundraising project in all of Rotary International, which includes over 32,000 clubs in 200 nations worldwide.
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