Imbler Track Committee Golden Gala raises over $100,000 in a single night
By Garrett Christensen on Thursday, May 9th, 2024 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
IMBLER – One barn, 100 tickets, one mission, one incredibly dedicated team, and one equally dedicated community. That is what it took to raise over one hundred thousand dollars during one evening of dinner and auctioning. In a single night, the Imbler community pushed the project passed half of the total funds needed to construct a state of the art eight lane track for their school.
The Golden Gala is a dinner & auction event made to help fundraise for the Imbler Track & Field Community Project, hosted this past weekend on May 4. The event was organized over the course of three months by track committee members Jenny Phelps, Deana Coppinger, Tara Kunz, Jennie Yancey, Mary West, Heather Howard, and Katie Burright, aka the Gala Gals, though with plenty of support of other committee and community members, event sponsors, and even students.
The Gala itself was hosted at The Barn at Tamarack Springs, with the venue being offered free by owners Kent & Deana Coppinger and Tara & Shuan Kunz, who also provided seating as well as covering some food expenses. Community member Derek Howard served as Master of Ceremonies while Jake Seavert acted as the auctioneer. Imbler’s Music teacher, Erin Wunz, and her band, Marinell & Friends, provided live music, while various student track athletes and parents acted as caterers. Student athletes Trevor Treat, Carson Yancey, Isla Howard, Madia Burright, and Jo Bingaman also acted as guest speakers, while Dawn Treat provided photography. Most food provided during the Gala was donated directly by sponsors.
In total, the Gala offered 15 high value live auction items and 14 silent auction items, including vacation packages, hunting trips, and custom furniture, all donated or funded by local businesses and sponsors. 100 tickets were sold for the event, with roughly 52 attendees participating in auction bidding. Initially setting a fundraising goal of around twenty-three thousand dollars, the event would ultimately raise far more than anyone expected, as described by Jenny Phelps:
“When I met with the auctioneer, he said, ‘well, what’s your goal’? And I said, ‘we need $22,800 to hit 50%.’ He kind of chuckled and looked at me and said, ‘oh, don’t worry. we’re going to get a lot more than that tonight.’”
Even subtracting expenses, the Golden Gala raised $102,636. Of this amount, $34,200 came from live auction items, $26,000 from the first paddle raise, $17,100 from the second paddle raise, $9,800 from dinner and ticket sales, $7,895 from silent auction items, and $5,601 from extra donations, along with $2,040 in leftover funding. The paddle raises in particular were a surprise to the committee and students, with Phelps commenting:
“The looks on those kids’ faces as people were raising their paddles in the air was just… it was really kind of a magical moment for them to be part of, seeing that community come together and support them like that.”
Generosity seemed to be in ample supply across the entire Gala, with some kitchen volunteers even sticking around to donate after already giving their time to help. According to Phelps, one attendee, who had just won a hunting trip package, even agreed to share their trip with the runner up bidder so long as they both paid their full bid, effectively doubling the donation.
With the money from the Gala, the Track & Field Community Project now sits at $712,333 in funds raised out of a goal of $1,290,000, as of the time of writing. This amount was raised in roughly ten months, with the project originally kicking off in July of 2023. As for what’s next, nothing on the scale of the Gala is in the works for the immediate future, though the committee plans to host a 4th of July fun run.
Though the Golden Gala is over, the committee hopes its success will serve as proof of the community’s dedication to the project and an inspiration for future support. As described by committee chair Ian Gordon:
“We’re hoping that it will be a good demonstration to some of the other folks out there that we’re serious about raising money. Most of the attendees were from Imbler, Summerville, and a fair number from La Grande, but we’re hoping it shows that we really have a commitment to make things happen and encourage others to pitch in.”
Tentatively, it’s still hoped the project will be eligible for grant funding by the early fall, with construction possibly beginning during the summer of 2025. For updates on the track project, or to arrange a donation, visit https://imblertrack.org/.
