A donor at the in-person portion of this year’s event looks at auction items on his phone - all bidding this year was done via mobile bidding platform.
Bryan and Kelly Ranstad, left and center, accepted the Community Leadership Award from Looking Glass Director of Marketing & Development Tyler Mack at the 2022 Looking Glass auction fundraiser event.
The 2022 Looking Glass Auction fundraiser, “Looking Forward, Giving Back,” was a mostly virtual affair this year, with a 4-day online auction and a small in-person gathering along with a Zoom audience hearing client success stories and raising crucial funds for at-risk youth. This year’s event presented some unique challenges of appealing to a virtual audience and participating from afar while many community members don’t yet feel comfortable gathering in large, unmasked groups while others are “Zoomed” out and yearn for lively in-person gatherings again.
At the end of the day, community members gathered (whether in-person or in spirit) to raise significant funds for Looking Glass programs. 2 inspiring client videos were shared, both featuring youth who now reside in the new Alder House, owned and maintained by Kelly and Bryan Ranstad of Hybrid Real Estate, who were both at the in-person event. Looking Glass staff took this opportunity to publicly recognize and thank the Ranstads for their amazing contributions to supporting homeless and transitional housing youth with the Alder house. They were given the Looking Glass Community Leadership Award.
The in-person portion of the event included roughly 60 people, mostly event sponsor representatives, at Venue 252. The gathering was quite a bit smaller and more intimate than most years, but also felt like a refreshing toe dip back into large gatherings by many who commented about the pleasant party.
The fundraiser included a paddle raise and was supported by a special donor match by Alex & Amy Haugland of $10,000 which encouraged 20 donors to give at the $500 level.
Special thanks to Looking Glass Board Chair Dan LaCoste for helping encourage donors at the event and to Liz Kelly and Mary Reilly for once again playing Emcees. And to all auction event sponsors including Hamilton Construction, U.S. Bank, Timber Products Company, Trillium, Wildish, Oakway Center, McKenzie River Broadcasting, Columbia Bank, Besemann Valentine, LLP, Goldworks, Chambers Construction, KPD Insurance, Staton Companies, Arbor South Architecture, PeaceHealth, Umpqua Bank, Delta Sand & Gravel, Hyland Construction, First Interstate Bank, Olsson Electric, OnPoint Credit Union, Rosboro, The Commerce Company, George Russell & Associates, Dari-mart, PacificSource Health Plans, Twin Rivers Plumbing, Summit Bank, and Windermere Real Estate.
If you missed the event and/or would still like to donate to support at-risk youth in Lane County, you can do so anytime on our website donation page.
Here are some photos from the in-person event at Venue 252:
