If the founding fathers of the Quillayute Valley Scholarship Fund/Auction were around today wouldn’t they be proud, amazed and just downright thrilled with what they started? Once again the community has pulled off something that doesn’t happen anywhere else.
For some reason, here at the Forks Forum, I receive the East County Journal, a newspaper from Lewis County. On the front page of the March 13 edition, a headline reads that they had raised $20,000 at their annual scholarship dinner and auction, their most successful fundraiser to date. It was also that events 55th year, just like the QVSA. While I am not putting down their efforts, what happens in Forks each year is unparalleled!
In 1966, the first year of the Quillayute Valley scholarship fund fundraising efforts, the goal was to raise $1,000. The first year the radio station got on board, 1968, $2,400 was raised.
Through the 1970s-1980s the amounts continued to go up; 1990 raised $12,000, 1993 saw $26,000 raised, then in addition to the radio station broadcasting the event the local cable company broadcast the auction on local channel 19 and the total the first year it was on TV went to $33,000!
In 1998 $58,000 was raised; in 2000 $62,000 and in 2008 $71,000;but could it go higher? Yes, it could! In 2014 the auction raised $91,000; but could the town of Forks break the $100,000 mark? Yes .. and so it has gone $120,000 and then $140,000 and this last weekend an unbelievable $155,500 raised.
In 1987 Olympic Corrections Center began its participation in the auction and once again this year they donated an unbelievable amount of items.
Only a few years have seen the auction total go down from the previous year.
The current QVSA chairman Jerry Leppell has once again done an amazing job; thanks also go to the students, those that donated and those that bid, and the auctioneers. While Sarah Decker was auctioning she encouraged people new to the community to come down to the High School Commons, saying if you really want to understand what makes Forks Forks, the QVSA is a great way to get to know this community and how great it is!
The QVSA began with a group of Forks residents looking for a way to help Forks High School graduates achieve higher educational goals.
The organizers believed that due to the remoteness of the community, the cost of college or trade school was not always within reach for many Forks families.
Thanks go to original board members Robert Rosmond, Harvey King, Russ Thomas, Larry Wagg, A. Nordman, Mrs. Herman Waters, and Mrs. George Thompson.
In Business News
The former Three Sisters Gallery in Clallam Bay will be reopening under the new name Three Sisters Gallery of Treasures. The new business venture will feature spaces to rent by the day, month to month whatever works for you! Crafters, hobbyists, and anyone that wants to sell something are encouraged to attend an informational meeting on Saturday, March 23 at 10 a.m. at the Gallery in Clallam Bay, 16950 Highway 112. For questions contact Carol at seaview452@yahoo.com.
Inquiring minds want to know …
What is up with the shamrocks painted at the corners of Cambell St. and Ash Ave.?
According to Forks Mayor Tim Fletcher, who lives near the mysterious markings …”We just got in the spirit of St Patrick’s day one year and painted them and haven’t stopped, each March we repaint them for St. Patricks Day.”
Christi Baron
Editor
