Red Cross prepares to kick off annual sports memorabilia fundraising auction
By Staff Reports
Published in News on March 10, 2010 1:46 PM
On Thursday, April 8, at 5:30 p.m., the American Red Cross will open the doors to its annual Sports Memorabilia Auction and Dinner at Walnut Creek Country Club. This will be the seventh year the Wayne County Chapter has hosted this highly anticipated event, and, said executive Director Chuck Waller, "Ticket sales have just begun and the response has been fantastic. This event sells out every year and people are already calling in ticket orders."
The auction was the brainchild of George Whitfield and Wes Waller. For the seventh consecutive year, memorabilia items from all areas of sports and from all over the country will be gathered to be auctioned off with the proceeds benefiting the services of the local American Red Cross Chapter.
"As usual, George and Wes have done an amazing job of gathering items from multiple sports venues from all over the country," Chuck Waller said. "They actually begin collecting items for the next year's auction once the current year's auction ends. The quality and quantity of items continues to grow."
This year's auction will include many notable memorabilia items from sports greats such as: Peyton Manning (Super Bowl 41 winner), Tyler Hansbrough (ACC all-time leading scorer, 2009 national champion), Pat Summitt (more than 1,000 career victories), N.C. State coaching legend Kay Yow, former Duke great J.J. Redick and Major League Baseball all-star Josh Hamilton.
There also is memorabilia from New York Yankee greats Yogi Berra, Bobby Richardson, Reggie Jackson and Don Larsen, as well as memorabilia from other baseball greats, Carl Yastrzemski, Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Bob Gibson, Warren Spahn and Brooks Robinson. Basketball legends Mike Krzyzewski, Dean Smith and Roy Williams have also contributed always popular ACC items to be auctioned.
And this is just a small sampling of the sports items available for this year.
Waller encourages those interested in a more complete list of items or to purchase event tickets to contact the chapter at 735-7201.
But, said Red Cross Director of Development Samia Garner, "There will be plenty of items to interest the ladies and non-sports enthusiasts as well. This is an area of the auction that has grown significantly over the past couple of years. Some of the offerings this year include an oriental rug, original artwork, antiques, hand painted furniture, jewelry and all types of gift baskets."
"This is a terrific opportunity to have a fun evening and do something to support your community at the same time. It just doesn't get much better than that," Ms. Garner said.
Each year the Wayne, Wilson, Greene American Red Cross collects approximately 12,000 units of blood, trains approximately 7,000 citizens in CPR and first, responds to 125 house fires and delivers 300 emergency communications on behalf of our armed forces heroes. The American Red Cross is not funded by the federal government.