Talent and Treasures Auction

For the first time in four years the UUSA is having a service auction. This is a major fundraiser for the UUSA. The Talent & Treasures Auction will be a hybrid event with an online catalog and an in-person event on Saturday, April 29. Woohoo! Let’s have some fun with each other and raise money for our beloved UUSA at the same time! We are all ready to move beyond COVID. We want to find ways to be together in person and also be mindful about those of us who still want or choose to protect their health.

We need your services, crafts, or skills for the auction. Please think about what you could contribute. Maybe you love to garden and would be willing to help someone else for a couple hours. If you enjoy cooking, you might host a dinner for 6 or 8. You might offer a dinner in your home. You might host it outdoors this summer. Or you could offer a specialty dinner for pickup or delivery. You could teach: singing, painting, tutoring. How about offering the entertainment for a birthday party? Tickets to a ball game? to the symphony? Do you have a vacation home that you could share for a weekend or a week? Do you have a hobby: pottery, woodworking, knitting, painting, quilting? Do you want to support a local business by buying a gift certificate and donating it to the auction? Think about what you love and could share with the rest of us. 

Need some ideas? How about one of the following–or any idea YOU may have:

  • Help with gardening for 2+ hours
  • Host a dinner for 6-8 people in your home (or elsewhere)–even outside in summer!
  • Teach singing, painting, pottery, woodworking, knitting, quilting, tutoring, writing
  • Offer entertainment for a birthday (or other) party
  • Provide tickets to an event–symphony, ballgame…
  • Offer a weekend at a vacation home
  • Buy a gift certificate to a local business for auctioning

There will be some tangible items in the auction, too. Someone is making gorgeous wooden cutting boards, for example. If you have an item to donate, please make sure it is “BETTER THAN A TAG SALE” item. We are looking for donations worth at least $20.

Our goal for this fundraiser is $5,000 (about $50 per household).We’d love for you to participate by donating item(s) and bidding on auction offerings–but if you can’t any donation would be appreciated. Donations can be made by check (payable to UUSA with “Fundraiser” in the memo line, or online in the drop down menu.

Our Auction will be a little different this year. We plan to hold the Silent Auction on-line in about a month. We will also have an in-person gala. We’re hoping that this hybrid event, like our hybrid servicesm will give everyone a chance to participate, regardless of their comfort level with COVID policies at this point. 

Please use the Google form to describe your donation. If you have a photo, email it to auction@uusocietyamherst.org . If you would prefer to have help from one of us to fill out the donation form, email Jeanne Ballantine (contact Lea in the office if you need Jeanne’s email address).