Bill Randall (middle) was presented with the Craig Opperman Community Leadership Award at the April 12, 2025 Looking Glass Auction Gala event. Current Looking Glass CEO Chad Westphal (left) and former Looking Glass CEO, Craig Opperman (right) made the surprise announcement and presentation.
The 2025 Looking Glass Auction Gala Fundraiser - the 25th annual such gathering - held on Saturday, April 12th at Venue 252 in Eugene, had a Wicked/Wizard of Oz theme. The decor was plentiful and attendees (almost 300 of them) came dressed in a mix of movie themed looks and classy suits and dresses. There were lots of Glinda’s and several scarecrows, Lions, Tin Men, Dorothy’s and witches. Ceiling-spinning acrobats (Revelers Aerial Works) accompanied a fantastic live band (The Michael Allen Harrison Trio) and in the end, a huge amount of donations were given and fun was had by all.
Liz Kelly (left, as Glinda) and Mary Reilly (right, as Elphaba) were the event Emcees again.
Looking Glass CEO, Chad Westphal, and former CEO, Craig Opperman, presented this year’s Community Leadership Award to longtime board member, Bill Randall.
Mary Reilly and Liz Kelly were once again the Emcees - this time donning Glinda and Elphaba outfits!
The client success video shared highlighted one client’s challenges with addiction and homelessness before getting housing assistance from Looking Glass and completing her AA degree with next steps being attending Oregon State University. Very inspiring!
Auction attendees ham it up in the hot air balloon
Event decor was off the charts this year - in addition to the acrobats and the band, a hot air balloon with a basket our guests could get into, a rainbow balloon feature with clouds adorning the suspended-in-air cupcakes and a full Emerald City photo area plus a dog house crushing the witches feet which was made by our own Riverfront School Skilled Trades Program students! Much of the decor was made by PNW Parties & Balloons.
Special thanks to all of our corporate sponsors: Arbor South Architecture, PC, B\VAL CPA's, Chambers Construction, Claim 52 Brewing, Dari-mart, George Russell & Associates, Goldworks Jewelers, Hamilton Construction, Heritage Bank NW, Hyland Construction, IMA Corp, Kelley Create, Magyar Property Management, McKenzie River Broadcasting, Olsson Electric, OnPoint Credit Union, PeaceHealth, Staton Companies, Summit Bank, The Commerce Company, Trillium, Twin Rivers Plumbing, Umpqua Bank, Washington Federal Bank, and Wildish.
And special thanks to our auction chairs - Neal & Shannon Spoon, as well as our entire 2025 auction committee: Kierstin Dunavant, Johanna Erdmann, Sandee Gerber, Jeremiah Marsden, Caitlin Peoples, Moira Querns, Jennifer Revoal, Jeanne Staton, and Caitlin Vargas.
And finally thank you to the amazing UO students who came and dressed up in our silly Wizard of Oz costumes - you all made the event super special: Charlie, Coffee, Maddy, Reilly, Harvey, and Sarah.
Access ALL of the amazing event photos, taken by the amazing Kelly Lyon Photography, on this dropbox link. See a handful of some of these great pics below:
