Military scholarship fundraiser scheduled for Saturday
By Steve Herring
Published in News on February 21, 2016 1:45 AM
Community support is being sought for a fundraiser for scholarships for military dependents on Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
Members of the Seymour Johnson Officer and Civilian Spouses Club and the Enlisted Spouses Club also hope to raise awareness about the scholarship program when they sponsor their second annual Scholarship Auction on Saturday, Feb. 27, at Heritage Hall on the base.
Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. and the event, being called "A Night on the Town," will include silent and live auctions.
It will start at 6 p.m.
Tickets are $20 per person.
Ed's Southern Foods and Spirits will cater the event, and there will be a cash bar.
"Items are still being accepted (for auction)," said Sharlene Hermanski, Officer and Civilian Spouses Club president. "We are ahead of the game from where we were last year, which is good, but we still need items."
Because of demand, the auction has been opened up to donations of talents as well as items.
"Right before Thanksgiving I decided that I wanted a new table, so I made myself a new table," Mrs. Hermanski said. "So I am going to donate a table."
Also last year a pilot at the Wayne Executive Jetport donated a flight, she said.
The Officer and Civilian Spouses Club and the Enlisted Spouses Club are nonprofit organizations, and all donations are tax deductible.
"We are going to have a lot of fun," Mrs. Hermanski said. "It is a good time to get together."
There will be a jail bail with some dressed in "fun" deputy and sheriff's costumes, Mrs. Hermanski said.
A person can donate to have someone "arrested" for a certain amount of time or until someone donates to bail the person out, she said.
The scholarships are awarded to dependent children and spouses of base-affiliated military in three categories -- high school seniors who are going on to college, current college students and spouses.
March 15 is the deadline for applications for 2016.
For more information visit www.sjocsc.com or to make a donation for the auction contact Mrs. Hermanski at ocscauction@gmail.com.
"I think education is huge," Mrs. Hermanski said. "I am a big supporter of it. I think it is great to try to raise awareness and do as much as you can. OCSC and ESC, I know we work a lot with the community, trying to do as much as we can giving back."
Proceeds from the base's Thrift Shop also fund the scholarship as well as local charities.
"The Thrift Shop is a joint venture managed by both the Officer and Civilian Spouses Club, and the Enlisted Spouses Club," she said. "The funds received from the Thrift Shop will continue to go to both scholarship and charitable outreach.
"The more successful the Thrift Shop is -- volunteers and items received -- the more we can give to local charitable outreach."
Also, if events like the auction can specifically fund the scholarships, more money from the Thrift Shop can go to community projects, she said.
"Last year I moved here from a sister base in England," Mrs. Hermanski said. "I had never been a part of OCSC before, but I had heard about it. When I moved here I didn't know anybody and just had my first kid so I was kind of stuck inside."
Some of her friends were involved in the club and she joined and was part of the scholarship committee last year.
"Every month we try to have an event to raise funds, but did not have anything for May to give back to the community," she said. "Before I left England I heard somebody talk about auctions so I opened my mouth here and go, 'Hey, what about an auction?'"
The group liked the idea and told her to go with it.
"So we did it within five weeks, which was a very short period of time, but we did it," Mrs. Hermanski said. "Some other girls from another sister base (Mountain Home) in Idaho moved here, and they have actually been doing the auction for 15 years now. This past year they brought in right at $20,000 at their auction.
"So when one of the girls moved here she kind of helped me out in like OK this is what we need to do. We walked away with over $4,000. With more people coming in from other bases and having experienced the auction in Mountain Home the way they do it, all of the proceeds go to scholarships. So that is pretty much what we do."
Mrs. Hermanski said she did not grow up in the military.
"But when you are moving around a lot you are not in an area long enough to apply for certain local scholarship so this is kind of filling in that gap for dependents," she said. "With the auction we want all of these proceeds to go to scholarships to kind of raise awareness because last year we only received nine applications, and here we are, we had $10,000 every year to give out, and we are only receiving nine applications.
"So we want to give more. I don't see that there should be a limit that we can only give this much every year. So that is really what this auction is all about -- bringing awareness to the scholarship and also giving more for the scholarships."
There is no set goal for the fundraiser other than raising as much as possible, she said.
"We were happy last year to raise $4,000 because of the short five-week turnaround," she said. "As long as we are on the up, I am happy with that because we are still also bringing in the Thrift Shop.
"This (fundraiser) is all in addition to what we usually do."