Virtual Conservation Dinner online auction activities, including 50-50 draw, set to raise around $40,000 for community projects
The Conservation Dinner, of the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation and Exeter Lions Club, was online in 2021 for the first time. The Virtual Conservation Dinner committee said online auction bidding, along with funds raised from the Exeter Lions Club’s 50-50 raffle draw and donations and restaurant dinner proceeds, is set to raise a combined total of approximately $40,000, in net proceeds, for projects in the community.
The Exeter Lions Club’s 50-50 Raffle Draw was also online this year. It had a record prize of $6,300.00 and the winner’s name was drawn on Earth Day, Thursday, April 21 at 7 p.m. The winner was Jeanette Parker (winning ticket number 99396823144).
Dave Frayne is Chair of the Conservation Dinner Committee. He thanked the community for their generous bids and donations, raffle draw ticket purchases, and support of restaurants taking part in the first Dine for Your Community program. He also thanked all the businesses and donors who donated funds or items to the auction. The Conservation Dinner partners had to find new ways to raise funds this year instead of a large in-person event.
“I would like to congratulate everyone who made the first Virtual Conservation Dinner such a success,” the Chair said. “Your generosity will make it possible to continue important projects in your community.”
The online charity auction took place over a full week from April 15 until Earth Day (April 22). The organizers hosted, for the first time, two live cable TV broadcasts, one to launch the week and one to cap it off. The shows included appearances by local political representatives, Conservation Foundation and Lions Club members, trail users, a best-selling author and Conservation Dinner donor, and young people who have benefitted from projects of the Dinner.
The committee thanked FauxPop Media Inc. for preparing the livestream shows and thanked the cable TV providers (Hay Communications; HuronTel; and Tuckersmith Communications Co-operative TCC) for broadcasting the shows.
Videos of those TV shows are posted here:
The Conservation Dinner, over more than 30 years, has raised more than $1.25 million for local community conservation projects such as parks, trails, conservation areas, job opportunities and bursaries for youth, conservation education, commemorative woods, turtle habitat enhancement and monitoring projects, recreation opportunities for the young and young at heart, and more.
To learn more visit abca.ca and conservationdinner.com.