Belleville Library Friends' Silent Auction a Success

The Friends of the Belleville Public Library and event chair, Linda Schmitt, were excited to host our second silent auction which culminated with a finale event at Schwoegler's Sugar River Lanes that included bowling and a Euchre party.
The event raised over $3,700, which brings us closer to the reality of a new library building. We are doubly excited because the funds raised will be matched due to the grant from the Schlecht Family Foundation.
There were so many people and businesses who helped to make this event a reality. We want to start by thanking our donors. We could not have pulled this event off without the basket and gift certificate donors. Goodness, we had so many terrific silent auction items this year. There were over 40 donors who donated 80 baskets and 15 gift certificates for the auction and the raffle.
We also want to thank the volunteers who helped bring this second year together. We are grateful to all the people who helped to organize the events, move baskets, display baskets, bake goodies, host and work the finale event. We send special thanks to Barb Funseth for organizing the Euchre party, Karen Stremikis who moved baskets from place to place each week, Julie Koch who spent countless hours working on bid sheets, Carol Eberhardy, Kathryn Fox, Denise Mussehl, Pat Manion, Crystal Fahrenkrug, and the library staff who worked to help us pull off this event.
Thank you to Judy Bacha and the team at the Sugar River Bank (Bank of New Glarus) who graciously opened their businesses to display our baskets. We also want to thank Mark Schwoegler and Schwoegler's Sugar River Lanes for hosting the finale event which included bowling and the euchre party. It Takes a Village to Raise a Library, and this event helped to make the new library a reality.