New Holland Café hosts Quarter Auction fundraiser for American Cancer Society

[March 30, 2023]     On Sunday, March 26th, Valery Carnes of the New Holland Café opened her doors for a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. The quarter auction event held by the Friends and Family Relay for Life Team was very successful, raising $927.60 for ACS.

The day began with four vendors, Carousel Printing, color Street Nails, Freckled Dog Designs, Jenni Pops Corn setting up displays at the back of the room. Donations of auction items were brought in and lined the bar of the café’ and paddles were ready to be sold along with the opportunity to pick up quarters as needed.

Karen Castelein and Lisa Ramlow manned the paddle sales table and were kept busy for quite some time before the event began.

When 2 p.m. arrived, Annie Coers welcomed all the guests and explained the basic rules of a quarter auction. When an item is offered for “bid” the description is read and the emcee announces how many quarters must be paid for each paddle held in the air. Guests decide if they are interested in bidding and raise their paddle. Then the coin collectors come around to the tables and collect the coins. When all the bidding is complete, a number is drawn from a bag and if it is a paddle number that is being held in the air, then that paddle wins the auction. If the paddle is not in the air then additional numbers are drawn until a winner is discovered.





Coers turned the event over to emcee Nila Smith, who announced each item while Lesley Bridge helped with showing the item and at the end drawing the numbers and delivering the prize to the winning bidder.

When the item was described and shown, and paddles were in the air, John Castelein and Richard Smith were the coin collectors.

There was a total of 36 items auctioned off with a 10-minute break at the halfway point.

Those who donated items for the auction included (listed alphabetically):

Darlene Begolka
Marilyn Bell
Brady Painting, Wendy Long
Carousel Printing, Kathy Merriman
Karen Castelein
Color Street Nails, Jessica Stock
Debbie’s Downtown Flora, Debbie Theobald
DK’s Crafts and Embroidery, Amy Cochrain
Farmhouse Barn Quilts by Tammy
Freckled Dog Designs, Melanie Harnacke
Heartland Farms LLC, Annie Coers
Jenni Pops Corn, Jenni Durbin
JMD Designs, Jill Dicken
Lincoln Daily News, Karen Castelein & Nila Smith
Jennifer Lolling
Marcia’s Creative Gifts, Marcia Bidwell
New Holland Banking Center
New Holland Café, Valery Carnes
Sew Personal Embroidery, Georgia Green
Simply Sweet, Linda Miller
Small Town Creations, Kathie Williams

Those who volunteered to help with the auction representing the Friends and Family Relay for Life Team were (listed alphabetically):

Lesley Bridge
Annie Coers
Karen Castelein
John Castelein
Lisa Ramlow
Nila Smith
Richard Smith

The Friends and Family Relay for Life Team would like to thank Valery Carnes for making the café’ available and her and her helpers Paul and Hunter Saba for keeping cold drinks coming as needed.

Also, a very special thank you to those who donated items for the auction. Without you, the team would not be able to raise nearly $1,000 for ACS.

All of the money collected by the team will be transferred directly to the American Cancer Society.

[Nila Smith with photos by Annie Coers]