The trickle-down effect of the Seattle Seahawks winning the Super Bowl is being felt at the Boys &Girls Club of Oak Harbor.
A bidder paid $5,000 to secure the football that Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson signed for the “Bids for Kids Dinner &Auction” on March 15 at the Roller Barn in Oak Harbor.
Oak Harbor-based concrete contractor LangCo Northwest made the winning bid, which was believed to be the largest for a single item in the fund-raising event’s 15-year history, according to board member Duncant Chalfant.
“I was very pleasantly surprised. I knew it’d go pretty well,” Chalfant said. “I was thinking a couple thousand, maybe $2,500. It kept going up and up. Everybody was cheering and standing up. It got a standing ovation at the end.”
Oak Harbor resident Greg Goebel met Wilson while sitting next to him on a flight to Newark, N.J., last month. Goebel donated the item to the auction after Wilson agreed to sign a ball for the charitable event.
Wilson autographed the ball and added a message, “To the Oak Harbor 12th man.”
Chalfant said the Boys &Girls Club will be sending a thank-you letter to Wilson, along with a photo from Saturday night’s event.
The “Bids for Kids” event raised $78,000 for the Boys &Girls Club, and Island Thrift has agreed to match $30,000.
The organization sets a goal to raise $100,000 during its biggest annual fund-raiser.
The Boys &Girls Club was able to raise $11,000 toward the purchase of a new van, which will give the club a second van to pick up children. That was part of a fund-a-need effort, with guests donating to a specific cause.
“Our current van transports 80 kids a day,” Chalfant said. “It goes to four different schools. We have a waiting list. We have more kids who’d like to come but we don’t have another vehicle.”
That will change soon.
Pac-12 honors Wolfe
University of Washington baseball player Brian Wolfe was named Pac-12 Player of the Week on Monday.
Wolfe, a senior outfielder-infielder from Snohomish, hit .563 (9-for-16) with a home run, four RBI and five runs scored last week as Washington posted a 4-0 record, including a three-game sweep of Pac-12 foe Arizona.
“I’m not trying to do too much at the plate and I’m sticking to my approach right now,” said Wolfe, whose four-game hot streak raised his season average from .244 to .328.
The Huskies (16-5-1 overall, 5-1 in conference) have won six straight games and are in a three-way tie for first place in the Pac-12 with Oregon and UCLA.
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