by Carla Ruschival
The sixth annual Holiday Auction, held Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017, was full of fun and surprises. The auction broadcast team was in place at the iHeartMedia studios in Louisville, Ky., at 7 p.m. Eastern. Kim Charlson, ACB president, welcomed everyone to the big event. Then the bidding began!
When the dust settled, it was about 2:30 a.m. Every item had sold, and we raised approximately $12,000 for ACB Radio.
An auction needs two things to be successful — donors and bidders. Individuals, affiliates and businesses contributed items and cash. A huge thanks to our generous 2017 donors: ACB Diabetics in Action; ACB Lions; ACB Families; ACB Students; ACB Mini Mall; ACB of Minnesota; Anthony Akamine and Terri-Lynn Higashi; Bay State Council of the Blind; Nancy Becker; Margarine Beaman; Keri Bishop; Blind Information Technology Specialists (BITS); Blind Mice Mega Mall and Cooking in the Dark Radio Show; Brian Charlson; Kim Charlson; Sara Conrad; Connecticut Council of the Blind; Council of Citizens with Low Vision International (CCLVI); Patti Cox; William Deatherage; Mike and Shauna Franklin; Greater Louisville Council of the Blind; Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI); Mike Hartwig; Kim Hebert; Illinois Council of the Blind; Connie Jacomini; Terrell Jones; Kentucky Council of the Blind; Library Users of America (LUA); Marlaina Lieberg; Michigan Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired; Missouri Council of the Blind, Janet Dickelman, and the ACB convention committee; Regal Entertainment Group; the Phyllis Sirrine family; Bill Sparks; Dan and Leslie Spoone; Emily Starr; Dee Theien; Jeff and Leslie Thom.
This year’s winning bidders were: Bob Acosta, Anthony Akamine, William Baessler, Charles Biebl, Melanie Brunson, Ray Campbell, Berl Colley, Denise Colley, Natalie Couch, Debbie Deatherage, Virginia DeBlaey, Andrea DeKlotz, Chris Devin, Cathy Devin, Janet Dickelman, Mary Haroyan, Terri-Lynn Higashi, Jennifer Holloway, Connie Jacomini, Richard Johnson, Jean Mann, Anne Martin, John McCann, Oral Miller, Adele Moller, Marcia Moses, Trena Muncy, Shirley Roberts, Richard Rueda, Adam Ruschival, Carla Ruschival, Karen Shrawder, Ralph Smitherman, Tammie Snyder, Leslie Spoone, Ellen Telker, Jeff Thom, David Trott, Donna Walker, Elaine Weisbard, Sharlene Wills, Vivian Younger, and Vita Zavoli.
Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make this auction a success: to Brian Charlson, Keri Bishop, Patti Cox, Marlaina Lieberg, Larry Turnbull, and Paula Wiese for their help and support; to ACB staff Lori Sarff, Dee Theien and Kelly Gasque for their tireless help with descriptions, photos, web page posting, shipping and accounting; to Larry Turnbull, ACB Radio managing director, for instruction and support for the auction web pages, and for monitoring the entire operation; and to iHeartMedia for the use of their studio. A tremendous thank-you goes to the broadcast team: Patti Cox and Paula Wiese on the phones; Michael McCarty on air; producer Jim Fenn; and the Radio Storm for passing the live feed to ACB Radio.
The ACB Radio Holiday Auction Committee is looking forward to the 2018 extravaganza, and we hope you are, too.