Spring Fling Silent Auction 2024: Karen Flann, Sallie Williams

Collection of Donations

Gift cards and other types of donations can be made at any time; make
arrangements through Karen Flann, Wendy Cleland-Hamnett, or Ginny Wells to hand them over.

Deadline: Saturday, April 20

Gift Cards

Gift-Card-Donation-Letter

Gift cards are the biggest source of funds for our branch.

      Some Hot Tips for Obtaining Gift Cards:

• Please pitch in. It’s not too scary….
• Print out and keep three copies of the business letter in your car.
  • The UPDATED business letter is at the end of this newsletter.
• If a business donated last year, start by thanking the owner/manager for their donation.
• In your pitch
  • Highlight that part of the funds from our auction goes to area students from four local high schools for their work on inclusion.
  • Mention that this year our guest speaker will be Annie Ray, the performing arts department chair and orchestra director at Annandale High School in Fairfax County, Virginia. She was honored for her efforts to make music accessible to all students, particularly those with disabilities. She was also honored with the 2024 Music Educator award at the GRAMMYs.

Donating Items for Auction

Over the years, we’ve found a lot of categories that won’t sell at the auction, includes silver that has to be polished, and holiday items.

Our Cash and Carry section did well recently, so don’t be afraid to donate something from downsizing. We will sort through and if we can’t use an item, we will find a good home for it.

      What sells:

Jewelry!!  fine and not-so-fine

Unique items from travel

Throws

???

Online Donations

Sallie has already made online requests for donations and has started the databased to organize everything.

Confession of a Formerly Shy Person

By Karen Flann

In the beginning, neither Sallie Williams nor I ever wanted to be in a position where we had to ask for a donation. Did you see Sallie at the holiday tea? She was the one asking the owner for a donation to Spring Fling when we didn’t even have the business letter written yet!

Just saying, everyone can do what we now do boldly and audaciously! We’ll share the big secret:

Donations help businesses!

We give publicity!

We bring new customers!

We reach over 200 eyes (2 per person….) at Spring Fling!

We’re actually working on the behalf of businesses….

I confess that the first six years, the only way I would ask for a donation is to go to a restaurant with a friend, and after the meal, ask for the manger. Then I would timidly ask if they would like to donate.

Fast forward to last year. I actually went to a big restaurant in Fairfax, went straight to the manager and asked for a donation. He gave me a $50 gift card!

Yes, it’s true, sometimes businesses are not in a position where they are able to donate. You don’t know if you don’t ask.

The major source of our income from the auction is from gift cards, even though the “stuff” is more fun. Join us and give it a spin! It’s a win/win for the branch. The more, the merrier!

Now that we are in the post-holiday daze, it’s time to look around and think about how to support our Branch by donating:

Unique items – maybe from trips?             Baking a specialty item?

Costume jewelry?                                           Baking – cooking secrets?

New gifts in original packaging?                   A new game to play?

“Good” jewelry?                                             Tickets you can’t use?

Sharing a special talent?                                          

We’d LOVE it ALL for the Silent Auction! 

The Spring Fling 2023 Luncheon raised $4,378.69!

The highlight of the event was our excellent speaker Renee Wynn, a former Chief Information Officer for NASA. Ms. Wynn was informative, dynamic, and kept the interest of her audience. She described her role first at EPA and then at NASA as a woman professional. Her focus was how space exploration and scientific discoveries have impacted life on earth. One example was how the creation of special gloves, that the astronauts wore to protect them, have been adapted to uses in our society.

Another very interesting space discovery to protect astronauts form extreme temperatures has been modified to protect both mothers and babies from high temperatures that occur in some unusual pregnancies. After her talk, Ms. Wynn answered questions from the audience.