We’re excited to start planning for East Shore’s auction this year, since this year we’ll actually be able to hold an in-person event. It will be on Saturday November 13 – hooray! Put it in your calendars now!! The East Shore Auction, usually held in November each year, is a big fund-raising opportunity for the church, and a wonderful way to build community, since the auction is all about offering social events and services to each other.
Last year, of course, the whole thing had to be held online. That gave us challenges but also some new opportunities:
Members of the church rose to the challenge of learning some new software, and for the most part, people were happy to use the online catalog and do all the bidding online.
Members living further away, having young children or not able to drive at night enjoyed the fact that they could participate along with everyone else.
Contributors were creative in the events they offered, with some offering online events while others delayed their events until this summer so that winners could meet in person.
Auction team members were thrilled with how easy it was to administer the auction online, with no need for error-prone data entry of winning bids and time consuming audits to try to catch our errors.
And we still managed to raise a decent amount of money for the church, plus a significant amount for the Fund-a-need which was for Covid relief.
Of course, most of us missed the opportunity to get together and socialize while bidding, so we will be holding a live event this year. Here’s how we’re thinking it’s going to look:
The auction items, catalog and bidding will still all be done online. This will enable those members not able to be there in person to participate as they did last year. It will also keep the administration of the auction much simpler. A few printed catalogs will be available for those who feel they have to have a paper version.
Bidding will be open from November 5 – 13 to allow time for everyone to participate, though we expect most bidding will take place in the final few hours!
On Saturday November 13, we will hold a FREE evening event in the Sanctuary, open to everyone. There will be a food buffet, wine and soft drinks, available to all. Childcare will be provided.
Participants can bring their own smartphones or tablets to use for bidding at the event. Additional tablets and lots of volunteers will be available to help those who struggle with technology. Of course, there’s no need to bid. You can also just come and enjoy this East Shore community event.
Volunteers will prepare the food in the North Room kitchen and serve drinks. Youth and other volunteers will be needed to help with greeting guests, serving up the food, clearing the dishes, and providing technical support to those needing help with bidding.
We can also offer a parallel zoom event for those who are not able to participate in person to be able to watch the proceedings.
Now is a great time to start planning what you will contribute to the auction. We anticipate that there will no longer be any Covid restrictions, so that opens up a world of possibilities for events and services for members, gift certificates to restaurants, theaters and other events. We will start gathering your contributions in August.
We have a core team of volunteers already in place, but there are always opportunities for more people to get involved with soliciting contributions, managing physical items offered, and event support. We meet monthly on 2nd Mondays via zoom. Let me ([email protected]) know if you’d like to help.
We’re confident that we’ll be able to come together for a fantastic auction this year.
The Auction Team was delighted East Shore’s 2020 auction achieved its goal of raising over $21,000 towards the church’s Operating Fund, and established a special COVID Food Relief Fund of more than $20,000.
Since this was the first year that the auction had ever been held entirely online, we invited members to give us their feedback, and 28 people responded. Most people felt very positive about the auction, the software and the way that the event was run. A few people had some technical difficulties and there was quite a learning curve for some, but this should get easier in future years as people become more familiar with the software. The biggest complaint was that we couldn’t get together in person, which is totally understandable. There was also some concern about the last-minute change to the closing time of the silent auction which led to some confusion and frustration especially among those not participating in the Zoom event. We will ensure that doesn’t happen in the future.
From the Auction Team’s perspective, the biggest benefit of holding the event online was not having to produce and print a catalog (and addendum) or bid sheets, not having to enter all the data from the bid sheets, and not having to conduct an audit to catch all our errors on the Sunday afterwards. This saved us a ton of work, and we would love to retain this benefit in future years, if possible.
Looking ahead to next year, it’s obvious that members missed getting together, so we will definitely hold an in-person event in 2021, COVID permitting. However, we’d really like to keep the best of both worlds, and not go back to exactly how the auction was run in previous years. In particular, the ability of people to participate remotely enabled those who live too far away, are unable to drive at night, or have childcare responsibilities, to join in the fun for the first time.
That, plus the administrative advantages of running the auction online, means we are considering running it online indefinitely. While this is just an idea at this point, we’re envisaging a single event in the Sanctuary with a light buffet meal plus wine service offered along one wall, a display of the physical items on offer on the other wall, and everyone mingling together while bidding on their cellphones or tablets. Those who don’t have their own smartphone or tablet could borrow one for the evening, and those needing extra support could get assistance from volunteers to ensure that they could bid, and of course, people who are unable to attend in person could also participate.
We would probably still have some items that are promoted and bid upon in a “live” fashion, with the auctioneer and MC bringing those to your attention and projecting them on the big screen. But for the most part, everyone could participate, whether they are interested in the live items or not, as the silent auction would continue throughout. In the past we’ve received feedback that having two events, one in Spring Hall and the other in the Sanctuary, meant some people felt like second-class citizens for not being able to participate in the live auction. Combining the event into one big event would eliminate this problem, and enable us all to be together. We would ensure that the ticket price for this event was affordable to everyone as well.
We are sharing these ideas now, to get a head start on everyone thinking about how the auction could be different; so please do let me know if you have any questions or thoughts about this concept.
I’m very grateful to this year’s team of trusty volunteers—Nancy Bissell, Wenda Collins, Rachel Herbert, Craig Nelsen, Lori Saccardi, Jim Shuman, Mike Stunes and Beth Wilson— who did a fantastic job. While many of them wish to continue next year, fresh faces are always welcome. Since there’ll likely be food and wine involved, we will definitely be looking for more volunteers to assist in 2021, so let me know if you’d like to get involved.
Our Board and Auction team voted to approve an engaging, community response project for the Fund-A-Need. We want our community to grow together in serving and giving to the local Eastside community, and connecting with organizations and people to help make a difference, today!
What does this project have to do with Unitarian Universalism?
This project has everything to do with Unitarian Universalism and East Shore! We are a faith of open mind, loving hearts, and helping hands. Our Unitarian Universalist principles call on us to respect all who are in need, offer fair and kind treatment, and act on our ideals. We believe in the bounty of the Earth, the generosity of spirit, and the inherent worth and dignity of every person.
Unitarian Universalist congregations come together to answer the call for justice, and right now, COVID-19 is a justice issue. Food insecurity, always an issue, has been made worse by the COVID pandemic. The COVID Food Relief Project serves our neighbors in the community we are a part of – Bellevue and the Eastside – who are in need of direct food support. By working to eliminate the anxiety and challenges of getting food on the table, East Shore helps to support interconnection and growth in the local community.
How is this different from what ESUC already does to serve needs?
The COVID Food Relief Project builds on East Shore’s strong legacy of food insecurity efforts, whether it’s the P-Patch, Sophia’s Way, or Crossroads Meals. This project differs in that it is an appeal for mission-driven church wide giving that also includes learning and sharing opportunities. It is focused on relieving an imminent need and offering our congregants a path towards spiritual growth and community building through service to others.
When we pool our community’s time, treasure, and talent and pour it into the vibrant community of nonprofits and community agencies, we serve our neighbors. Lending a helping hand and engaging in relationships outside our church walls helps to build stronger local communities.
Is this project anti-racist?
A disproportionate number of people needing food relief are people of color. In King County, Latinx, Black, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander populations are disproportionately represented among callers to 211 seeking food assistance. By August of this year, 31% of callers seeking assistance with food identified as Black and 21% of callers identified as Latinx, when 7% of the overall King County population identify as Black and 10% identify as Latinx. By working to address food insecurity, ESUC is also working to dismantle inequity and white supremacy.
What is Food Insecurity in Western Washington?
You can tell by reading about our partner organizations, food insecurity is alive and well in Western Washington and King County. Learn more now about why those organizations exist. Food insecurity occurs when individuals or households lack reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. The CEO of Food Lifeline said on September 10, 2020 that the number of people facing hunger has doubled since the pandemic started and we likely haven’t seen the worst yet. Potentially one in five Washingtonians could be facing hunger by the end of the year. About half the people in Western Washington who are turning to the food bank system have not needed to use the system before.
Since strategies to slow the spread of COVID-19 were implemented, families with children are particularly at risk of food insecurity. National and state policies have enabled new resources or expanded existing resources, but some are set to expire. For example, the CARES Act money has ended and the WA State Legislature won’t be convening until January.
Sometimes families that are homeless need food, and sometimes families that are housed need additional food support. This food support may be in addition to other state and federal benefits, and helps to fill the gaps of those programs.
How much of a need is there for Food Relief in King County?
Even before COVID-19, 12% of King County adults experienced food insecurity. Among those who did receive free food, the most common sources of free food were:
a school or other program for children (the percent varied by week, ranging between 28%- 67% of adults reporting that their household received free food);
a community organization (ranged from 13%-45%);
friends, family or neighbors (ranged between 18%-36%);
and a food bank or food pantry (ranged between 11%-33%).
Tell me more about why the COVID Food Relief Project Partners were chosen:
Working within the existing network of community organizations is the best way to maximize our dollar and time. It is a way to interact with other faith communities with a common purpose. All of the partners and projects chosen can be done during COVID restrictions with precautions and safety measures considered.
Covid Food Relief Project Partners Info & Links
Mobile Meal Alliance: The Mobile Meal Alliance is a food truck meal voucher program. Organization funds donated by a church or other non profit entity are converted into food truck meal vouchers that are given to individuals and families in need of food support. Food trucks are then scheduled by the state food truck association to be hosted at churches, food banks or other residential area businesses. East Shore will work with the Bellevue School District Family Connection Centers to distribute meal vouchers to children, youth, and families who are experiencing food insecurity. East Shore would host a food truck and welcome neighbors, voucher holders, and our own congregants to a meal. https://www.wafoodtrucks.org/mobile-meal-alliance
Backpack Meals for Kids: The school meal program started off in the 1960s by the Black Panthers as one of their 10 point programs. It has since grown into a huge national effort to make sure that during the week, all children in school are given access to free or reduced cost breakfasts and lunches. For many Bellevue School District kids, the only meals they get are at school. On the weekends, they don’t have enough to eat. When children are hungry, everything else is harder, including learning. This program is working to fill that gap; Backpack Meals for Kids provides free, easy-to-make food packs and meals so children have food to eat over the weekend. During COVID-19, Bellevue School District has had to close many of their resources that families rely on. Right now, only two Family Connection Centers (FCC) are open: at Stevenson Elementary and Lake Hills Elementary. These are where Backpack Meals for Kids distribute their weekend meal packs for prek-12. Backpack Meals for Kids buys prepackaged weekend meal packs and stores them in their Bellevue Warehouse for weekly distribution. The program does pack pre-K meal packs on a monthly basis. East Shore would host volunteer parties for hands on packing. http://backpackmeals.org/
Jubilee Reach: Groceries for Families began in March to serve families financially affected by the pandemic. Over 25 organizations and churches have partnered with Jubilee REACH to provide families with groceries, hygiene items, and supplies. Spaced out over three days a week, nearly 700 families come on either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday to pick up bags of pantry and staple items. What began as an 8 week program, grew to 12 weeks, stretched through the summer and then continued into the fall and winter. Jubilee REACH also partnered with BelPres to fund a food truck on site. Jubilee REACH does not, outside of COVID, provide food to families, but does serve the needs of families, youth, and children in other capacities, such as job training and English Language Learning. For now, this grocery program is essential. East Shore would be able to pre-puchase items for the grocery bags, pack at our church, and then volunteer to help distribute at their site location, just 2 miles east of East Shore. Depending on our funding, we will be able to determine how many grocery bags per week ESUC can contribute ongoing. https://www.jubileereach.org/blog/2020/10/29/groceries-for-families-week-31-day-3
Food Bank Farm: Located in Snohomish county, just across the road from Bob’s Corn Maze and Pumpkin patch, this ten year old farm grows food for Food Banks and works to support other farms and farmers in gleaning efforts to help bring even more food to the food banks. Started by Fr. Jim Eichner and funded as a ministry of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross in Redmond. This project delivers most of its food to food banks through the organization Food Lifeline, but also works with Hopelink Food Bank, who harvests food once a week as well. Volunteer individuals and teams harvest the food, and during COVID, also help to pack it directly into large produce bags to eliminate the need for food bank sorting. Food Bank Farm shares land on Chinook Farms with Lowland Farm and One Leaf Farm. During winter months, Food Bank Farm will be welcoming volunteers to harvest beets, and sign ups for Field Trips through East Shore will be provided. https://www.facebook.com/VeggiesforFoodBanks/
Tell me more about how the Auction Fund-a-Need dollars will be spent
The Covid Food Relief Steering Team will determine how the dollars raised at the 2020 Auction will be spent. The team’s choices will be impacted by both how much money is raised and how many volunteers support volunteer activities. Consider how you might give to this project, and what impact you’d like East Shore to make on food insecurity on the Eastside. By giving generously, you help to ensure that the groundwork the Steering team has laid will be put to good use. All of our partner organizations are excited and looking forward to our contributions to this good work.
Ways we will use allocated funds:
Cash donation to Backpack Meals for Kids to pay for pre K-12 weekend food packs. A group of ESUC volunteers also can work to put the packs together. One weekend food pack for kids preK-12 costs $6. Backpack delivers about 680 food packs a week.
To pay for prebagged groceries directly which would then be packed and delivered by ESUC volunteers to Jubilee Reach. Packing can happen at ESUC and be delivered as a group effort. One family grocery bag costs $35. Jubilee Reach distributes nearly 700 of those per week.
To pay for meal vouchers through Mobile Meal Alliance. ESUC volunteers would then host a food truck at church and neighbors and ESUC congregants would join voucher holders in purchasing a lunch or dinner. One food truck voucher, distributed at the Bellevue School District Family Connection Centers, costs $10. To feed a group of 50, which is approximately 12 families, costs $500.
Cash donation to Food Bank Farm. Donate money for seeds and other farm supplies to grow food that is given to food banks. One bunch of beets is about $2. Food Bank Farm donated 360,000 pounds of food last year to food banks in our area. ESUC can offer a field trip for families, children and youth, adults of all ages to go to the field and harvest beets.
I really love this project, how can I support it?
We’re so happy to hear that! We need people at every level to get engaged and involved. We want GIVERS, LEARNERS, AND SERVERS! And, you can be them all! You don’t just have to pick one way of engaging. If you’re able, we invite you to consider giving generously to this project during the Auction! Help continue making East Shore connected to its local community in a visible and profound way! If you’re motivated by having a sense of the bigger picture, of helping out your community, and by having fun and learning throughout, come volunteer in our efforts!
What are the different ways of getting involved and volunteering?
Inspired by the success of East Shore Gets Out the Vote, COVID Food Relief Project offers a variety of simple ways for congregants of all ages to give, learn, and serve the need for food relief. There’s room on both the Steering team and for one-time volunteer roles.
Do you want to help with a one-time position, like attending a food truck event on campus or volunteering during a beet harvest?
Do you want to partner with the Steering Team to coordinate one of those events?
Do you like to do volunteer outreach?
Want to help this project in some way, but don’t know how? OR
Want to help this project in a way that we haven’t listed?
Get in touch! Contact amanda alice uluhan or Grace Colton to indicate you are interested in volunteering for the COVID Food Relief Project Team.
A volunteer at Jubilee Reach said about their experience:
“ I was overwhelmed by the scope, and “reach” of Jubilee Reach. Thousands and thousands of families/individuals were positively touched on just one day. I had no idea. I was impressed by a number of factors- the collaboration of church bodies on the Eastside, the number of families from each of those churches, the ability, of someone, to materially include non-church groups and obtain enormous assistance from Sysco/USDA. The leadership is virtually omnipresent, as well as omniscient. Also, to realize that there is that magnitude of need in Bellevue and environs. Wow, wow.“
How safe is it to participate in the COVID Food Relief Project? I want to be able to protect myself from the risk of COVID.
How safe is it to participate in the COVID Food Relief Project? I want to be able to protect myself from the risk of COVID.
Only you can decide the degree of risk you are willing to take. The ways to participate with the least amount of risk are to volunteer from home and financially donating to this project or volunteering from home to would be for many the options with the least amount of risk. All our project partners have set up protocols and processes that comply with WA State guidelines. Participating in activities coordinated in groups will mean traveling to/from a site on your own or with people you are already living with, and volunteering with social distancing at the site.
Get in touch! Contact amanda alice uluhan or Grace Colton.to indicate you are interested in volunteering for the COVID Food Relief Project Team.
We’re so excited to bring you East Shore’s Auction, Building a New Way! The Auction Team has been hard at work preparing everything, and we’ve been overwhelmed with the generosity and creativity of East Shore members in contributing items for you to bid on. Check out the catalog now with no commitment, and start to plan which items you will bid on. We have more than 127 items for you to bid on in this year’s auction!
Register to participate now if you are ready to get started. It’s free to participate, although you will need to provide a credit card number upfront if you want to bid! Once registered, you’ll be able to track the items you plan to bid on. There’s even an Auctria app for Android phones/tablets and iPhones that you can download, so you can bid more easily while you’re on the go or during a Zoom session. It’s a good idea to have this ready for the Live event.
The auction will be available for you to start bidding on Friday, November 6, 9:00 am!
“Live” Auction: Saturday, November 14, 6:30 pm
Bidding on all items will continue through the evening of Saturday November 14, when we’ll be holding a unique Virtual Live Auction event. At this event, we will close out the bidding on most items, and offer the opportunity to bid on a few specially selected “live” items. You’ll also be able to meet friends, new and old, in break-out rooms, chat with friends about your bids, and enjoy musical interludes. Be sure to keep the evening of November 14 clear for this event. It’s free and all are welcome, even if you’re not bidding, so come join in the fun! Here’s how to access it:
Live Auction Zoom Meeting ID: 950 9635 0939, Passcode: 319535
Orientations
The software, Auctria, we are using for this auction is very simple to use, and most of you won’t need any special guidance. We have prepared some orientation notes to help guide you through the process.
For those who would like some extra hand-holding, we are offering several orientation sessions on Zoom. Jim Schuman is providing orientation sessions as follows, and additional ones as needed:
Members of the team are also available for assistance whenever needed. You can either email Jim Shuman, Beth Wilson, Rachel Herbert (iPhone expert) or Amanda Strombom and request a time to talk with them by phone or Zoom, or if you’re stuck right now, call Jim Schuman (206 850 6021) or Amanda Strombom (425 351 6171) and we’ll do our best to help!
This will be a new way of running the auction for all of us. We will all be learning from this experience, so please be patient if some aspects don’t run as smoothly as we’d like. We’re confident, though, with a little learning, you will love this great new way to run the auction.
Fund-A-Need: COVID Food Relief Project
COVID Food Project Town Hall: Sunday, November 8, 12:30pm-1:30 p.m.
Please join the COVID Food Project Team after coffee hour on Sunday November 8th for a Town Hall about this year’s unique annual Auction Fund-A-Need. You’ll hear what the team’s been building, and talk with our community partners in Q & A about the project. See Farmer Jim’s interview with Amanda Alice at the Food Bank Farm! This town hall will help to engage you and your family and friends in this vital and important community project. Find more information about the project here.
Questions & Answers
Why is this project the Fund-a-Need?
Our Board and Auction team voted to approve an engaging, community response project for the Fund-A-Need. We want our community to grow together in serving and giving to the local Eastside community, and connecting with organizations and people to help make a difference, today!
Questions & Answers are available for you to find out more about food insecurity and relief, the project’s partners, volunteering, and how the auction’s fund-a-need dollars will be spent. Find questions and answers here.
This year, the Board of Trustees and Auction Team approved a unique Fund-A-Need item, focused on connecting and equipping East Shore with the ability to give, serve, and learn with the local community beyond our church “walls” and contribute to COVID Relief efforts.
Did you know one in three adults in Washington has difficulty getting access to food? Washington State ranks 10th in the country in overall wealth—and ranks 34th in food insecurity. We want to help plug in to the organizing change efforts all around us. At East Shore, we believe food, along with love, shelter, breath, and water, is one of the basic necessities every human needs to survive and thrive. We want you to join East Shore’s 2020 COVID Food Relief Project: a community opportunity to make a difference. Together our offering is stronger, larger, and longer than any one of us can do alone.
We’re partnering with local organizations. They are welcoming East Shore’s involvement, and we’re happy to join in these efforts with a large interfaith network all across the Eastside, especially those right here in Bellevue.
Our Partners
Mobile Meal Alliance: One food truck voucher, distributed at the Bellevue School District Family Connection Centers, costs $10. To feed a group of 50, which is approximately 12 families, costs $500.
Backpack Meals for Kids: One weekend food pack for kids preK-12 costs $6, and we would be helping to get 680 food packs out a week: that’s $3,600 a week.
Jubilee Reach: One family grocery bag costs $35 and we’re joining to help distribute 600 of those per week, that’s $21,000 a week.
Food Bank Farm: Donate money for seeds and other farm supplies to grow food that is given to food banks. One bunch of beets is about $2. Food Bank Farm donated 360,000 pounds of food last year.
Give
During our online Auction week from November 6-14, we need your support to raise between $11,000-$14,000! These funds will be used throughout the late fall and winter months to directly support families, children, and youth experiencing food insecurity. When we offer our funds to the larger network of community organizations doing this work as well, we can show up to help end hunger.
Learn
During November, December, and January, East Shore will host live webinars featuring live conversations with our partners to learn more about the efforts of our community, the problems of inequity, and how we are making a difference. These conversations are being incorporated into our Religious Exploration lesson plans so we can dive deeper into what it means to live out our values and show up with an open mind, a loving heart, and helping hands.
Serve
We want you to show up to some of our in-person opportunities as well. Whether it’s serving as hosts at East Shore to welcome our neighbors at the food truck, dropping off or helping distribute groceries and food packs, or joining us on a field trip to harvest beets for the food packs, you will have safe, outdoor, social distance activities to join in. We know we’re going into winter, and we want you to remember: there’s no such thing as bad weather, there’s only bad clothes, so dress warmly!
If you are a member of the East Shore community experiencing food insecurity or other difficulties getting access to your basic needs: please reach out so can help. Please connect directly with any of East Shore’s staff members, including Rev. Stephen Furrer who can be reached at [email protected] or (310) 367-5314. There are funds and care to help support you.
If you are a member of the East Shore community who is also connected with another organization that may be interested in joining these efforts, such as Rotary or Microsoft, we want to expand and sustain East Shore’s partnerships through more fundraising, so please get in touch with us today.
Contributions for the Auction have been flooding in. We have dinners and outdoor events to be held next summer, food to be delivered to your door, fun online events, home services and much more. But we could still use some more contributions. We’d love to get contributions from every member of East Shore, to help make this year’s auction a big success. Restaurant gift cards from favorite local restaurants, gift baskets, activity baskets, and arts and crafts made by children and youth, are some of the items we’re looking for to make this auction a success. More events are also very welcome. The deadline to get your contributions submitted is Sunday October 4th, so please think about how you can contribute to this wonderful auction. Here’s the Contribution Form.
Looking ahead to the auction itself, the catalog will be available for viewing by mid October, and you’ll be able to mark those items you want to bid on with a star so that you can keep track! Bidding will start on Friday November 6th. The system will send you an email if you get outbid, so you’ll know to get back online throughout the week to up your bid. You can also set up proxy bids, with maximum amounts, so that the system can up your bid for you, if you wish.
The culmination of this exciting auction will be on the evening of Saturday November 14th, when we’ll host a fun Zoom event to get those final bids in, and to participate in a virtual live auction for some special items. You’ll not want to miss this, so please keep Saturday November 14th free. Anyone can participate, so invite your friends and relatives to join in the fun!
We’re very impressed with the Auctria software. There’s an easy-to-use phone app you can download to use for bidding, or you can use the website. If all this technology scares you, don’t worry! We’ll be holding training sessions in late October and early November, so that you can learn how to use the auction software to place your bids. And we’ll have volunteers available to hold your hand every step of the way, and even place your bids for those who need extra support.
So get your contributions in, and get ready for a whole new way of raising money and building community at East Shore – it’s going to be fun!
