CUSTER COUNTY–The Custer County Foundation held its 15th Annual Gala & Auction on Saturday, December 14th at the One Box Convention Center in Broken Bow. The evening was deemed a success! Preliminary numbers show around $140,000 was raised! The Foundation sincerely appreciates the generosity of the many businesses and individuals throughout Custer County. THANK YOU for making it possible to have a successful event!
As guests arrived they had the opportunity to purchase keys for $10 each. After all keys were sold guests tried to unlock one of three glass jars containing cash prizes donated by A to Z Lawn Pro & Landscaping ($250), Arrow Aviation, Inc. ~Casey & Melissa Williams ($500), and Edward Jones, Gateway Motors/Sandhills Motors, and Palmer Monument($1,000).
Bubbles & Bling was back this year. This involved live auctioning five glasses of champagne, in which one glass contained a .64 carat diamond worth $3,145 and four other glasses contained a cubic zirconia stone. The diamond being featured was hand-selected by a personal representative from Hawthorne Jewelry in Kearney, who traveled to Antwerp, Belgium–the diamond capital of the world! Roy Yanagida picked the correct number when he purchased his glass and was the winner of the .64 carat diamond.
Other highlights of the evening included the ever popular “Heads or Tails” game. For $10/bead necklace guests had the opportunity to win $500 cash by simply choosing either “heads” or “tails” at the toss of a coin. Jenny Fox beat out the competition and was the lucky winner of the $500.
Rebel Hunt was the lucky winner of the stunning ½ cwt 14kt yellow gold solitaire diamond earrings donated by Sargent Irrigation Company.
The evening would not have been complete without the drawing for the choice of a Polaris Ranger Side by Side OR a $6,500 travel voucher with $1,000 cash sponsored by Ag-Land ATV and Custer County Foundation Ag Boosters. And the winner was… Darren Tobey of Broken Bow! Darren chose the Travel Voucher.
Proceeds from the evening will be incorporated into the funds of the Foundation and returned to Custer County in the form of grants for charitable organizations and scholarships for non-traditional students.
An exciting announcement was made regarding a donation from the Yanagida family. Roy Yanagida and his family made a $200,000 donation and is challenging the Board of Directors to raise another $100,000 in which Roy and his family will match. This challenge match could potentially raise $400,000 or more. We are excited to announce $23,050 was raised prior to the Gala and another $4,700 was donated by guests attending the Gala. Please contact the Foundation office if you would like more information regarding the Yanagida challenge.
Roy Yanagida told KCNI/KBBN on Saturday night that “the county has been so good to me.”
The Custer County Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit, tax exempt organization that was created in 1991 to promote charitable giving for the good of the communities of Custer County. The steady growth of the Foundation is driven by donors’ generosity, ideas and beliefs that the Custer County Foundation can make a difference in the lives of the people who live and work in Custer County. The Foundation exists because of people who have a desire to give back to the community where they lived, prospered, worked and played.
