A guitar signed by musician Keith Urban sits in front of products made by members of the Assistance League of Corvallis. The products will be for sale at Friday’s Winter Eve event; the guitar will be raffled off.
It’s been a busy year for the Assistance League of Corvallis: The nonprofit organization has created a new program that gives all new primary school teachers in the Corvallis School District about 50 books for their classrooms and extended a program that provides free hygiene products for students in need to Monroe and Alsea schools.
And that’s on top of the league’s usual activities, which this year included giving approximately 500 local kids new clothes and shoes, providing dental-hygiene lessons to about 900 sixth-graders, helping 300 high school students prepare for the SAT and giving 100 teddy bears they provide to local first responders to give to children in traumatic situations.
And between 5 and 9:30 p.m. Friday the group will be trying to raise a big chunk of the money it uses to support all these programs with its largest fundraiser of the year, Winter’s Eve.
The event, in its 14th year, is centered in a massive, decorated and heated tent that fills Madison Avenue between Second and Third streets, where around 30 vendors will be selling food and drinks.
Tickets are $40 in advance and are available at The Inkwell Home Store, Rice’s Pharmacy & Gifts, The Clothes Tree and Schmidt’s Garden Center. The ticket book includes coupons to around 30 downtown businesses that are having specials and extended hours the night of the event. Ticket books are $45 at the door.
Becky Strandberg, one of the three chairs of the event, said it raises about $50,000 each year.
In addition to the money raised, Edwards noted that the league’s volunteers put in about 19,000 hours a year, time she estimated is worth nearly half a million dollars.
“We are making a difference in children’s lives,” she said.
