Southwestern PTO takes auction online: Annual fundraiser to be held on Facebook Live on May 21

HAZEL GREEN, Wis.–Southwestern School District’s Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) holds an auction each year to raise funds to support the school district and to help teachers with supplies and other items. Initially, scheduled for March at Sunset Lanes and Hall in Dickeyville, Wis., the auction was postponed to April 4 in hopes that any regulations set in place would be lifted. After the regulations were extended, the PTO had to once again cancel their auction. This year the auction will be held on Facebook Live on May 21.

“In the past, we get all of our sponsors that sponsor our auction and donate items, and we then buy items for the auction,” said Jennifer Gleason, Southwestern PTO member. “Typically all of our classrooms 4K through fifth grade does a classroom project, those are typically our big-ticket items.”

Gleason said many of the classes had already completed their projects prior to school closing due to COVID-19. The high school’s technical education program also created items including a sofa table, picnic table and a gardening bench to be auctioned at the auction.

“Of course we could auction it off next year, but it doesn’t mean as much,” said Gleason. “They already put all of their little artwork into it and assembled it. We have a couple projects like that that we want to be acknowledged and if a family wants to buy it, they can.”

Gleason said organizers decided to stop going out to businesses due to coronavirus and had already received sponsorship money for this year. Gleason said some of the sponsorship money and donations will be rolled into next year’s auction.

“Anything that was a project, we want to do and get out there and get sold,” said Gleason. “High school parents might have a project that their kid worked on and they might want to bid on it and buy that item.”

Gleason said they decided to hold an auction for the items that they have on Facebook Live on Thursday, May 21. They will post pictures of the items online and for a set amount of time will allow people to bid on the items through the photo’s comments.

“That is what we are planning,” said Gleason. “We want to see these items be used.”

Funds raised by the auction go directly back to the Southwestern school district.

“All of the teachers are able to request money from the PTO,” said Gleason. “A big thing for us is that we don’t want money coming out of our teachers’ pockets (for supplies). They send in requests for anything from treats as an incentive to SmartBoards.”

The PTO has also used their funds to purchase Chromebooks and laptop carts for the district and have paid for a field trip to the Heritage Center in Dubuque, Iowa for a performance. The PTO pays for transportation and tickets for that field trip.

“The kids absolutely love those,” said Gleason. “My kids come home and they are always so excited about them. The PTO group always wants to make sure that happens every year.”

The PTO also donates money towards inflatables for the annual end of year school carnival. This year, the PTO donated $10,000 towards the new playground equipment that will be added during the athletic field project. Also with the changing landscape of education that was created due to remote learning, the PTO has been helping teachers with supplies or needs to make teaching from home easier. Southwestern’s PTO is looking forward to what this new auction set-up will be like and are looking forward to raising more money to help the district and teachers during this challenging time.