It was a night to remember at the jam-packed, Lake Lawrence Community Club on Saturday, March 9, which welcomed numerous business owners, board members, school associates and public figures within Thurston County to the event.
Thanks to the generosity of local business owners and participants in the 29th annual Dollars for Scholars (DFS) auction event, $123,000 was raised for graduating Yelm High School (YHS) seniors in their post-high school pursuit of college or the workforce.
Jennie Foglia-Jones, with Yelm Dollars for Scholars, said the organization is excited about the $123,000 raised for graduating seniors. She noted the amount does not include money raised from the Taste of the Prairie program or other Yelm DFS fundraisers throughout the year. Students will be awarded with scholarships from the fundraiser at Yelm High School’s Scholarship Night in June.
“This is the third year we’ve had pretty consistent numbers with our auction raising. It’s really good. Obviously we put a lot of work into making this auction happen for the purpose of raising dollars for the scholarships,” Foglia-Jones said. “Obviously we couldn’t do this without the Yelm community. We’re very fortunate to have great businesses and organizations that care and are wanting to see these kids be able to thrive, as well.”
Foglia-Jones said 26 YHS students, from freshmen to seniors, attended the Lake Lawrence Community Club on Friday and Saturday to help prepare for, and host, the event.
“They folded all the napkins. They did all the linens, folded the programs, and Saturday, at the event, we had them selling ‘bling rings’ from (jewelry store) Panowicz. Some of them were working in the kitchen. They were the ones serving the food and bussing the tables. We had some of them at the stage helping with the auction items, along with registration,” Foglia-Jones said. “We really appreciated their support.”
Prior to the auction, Yelm Community Schools Superintendent Chris Woods spoke to the audience and highlighted the importance of the annual Yelm DFS auction and fundraising.
“This is really unique. I don’t know if you realize this or not, but this is really special what we have here in Yelm,” Woods said. “I don’t believe there’s ever been a time where our students have needed us more than they need us now. They need our support. They need our encouragement. They need our resources, and many of them need us to believe in them. We have some fantastic students in our community, and many of them just want somebody to believe in them — that they can do more than they’re doing now. Tonight is a great opportunity for us to support all of our students that choose to do something beyond high school.”
Dan Huttmann, Yelm DFS board president, thanked the community for attending the auction and supporting the organization.
“Over the last 29 years, Yelm Dollars for Scholars has awarded more than $2.9 million dollars in scholarships to Yelm High School graduates pursuing further education in post high school or trade schools,” Huttmann said. “I would like to thank all the board members and volunteers that help make this possible.”
Following the event, Huttmann commented on the community support received at each auction.
“From the generous sponsorships and donations of items, to the overwhelming attendance and support, the success of our annual dinner auction event truly reflects the spirit of our Yelm community,” Huttmann wrote. “This is ‘Y’ we do what we do, and we extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who contributed, attended and donated, making this event a remarkable success.”
Bidding wars broke out for WhiteWater Orthodontics, a ride along with Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders, an opportunity to design a football play for the YHS football team and a round of 507 Taproom drinks before item organizers agreed to give away the prizes to the top two bidders.
“For us to be able to see mid-auction, to have some of these donors go, ‘we’ll just give a second one,’ is really amazing. We know that when they’re giving an auction item, it’s a donation, so we’re not having to pay for that item,” Foglia-Jones said. “It’s all their generosity that they’re giving a second item. We’re then making more money for our scholarships because of their generosity.”
A vintage YHS baseball jersey sold for $1,400 at the auction. Foglia-Jones said the age of the jersey was confirmed by photos in YHS yearbooks, as the teams wore the jersey from the 1940s to 1958.
”We have images from the yearbook of that jersey being worn by people whose relatives were sitting in the room at the auction. It was pretty cool to have that. We framed it up and made it a nice item,” Foglia-Jones said.
Yelm DFS will host the 30th annual dinner and auction on March 8, 2025, at the Lake Lawrence Community Club, Foglia-Jones said. The online auction will run from Feb. 28 through March 7, as well, next year.
