25th Crippled Children’s Auction June 25-26 in Mt. Hope
The annual Crippled Children’s Benefit Auction will be held June 25-26 at the Mt. Hope Event Center.
Lending a hand is a good rule of thumb to live by, but Norman Hershberger, chairman of the Ohio Crippled Children’s Fund, said they saw a need and needed to go further. “When we saw the number of babies born with birth defects and other diseases rise, with parents unable to pay for the bills, we knew what to do,” he said.
The Ohio Crippled Children’s Fund is in its 25th year of raising money to help Amish families cope with the rising cost of medical bills. Whether a child is born with a birth defect or other disease like cystic fibrosis or cerebral palsy, OCCF is there to help with costs through the child’s 21st birthday. The OCCF became a full-fledged organization in 2006.
Helping people with medical costs means fundraising. Their biggest event of the year is the Crippled Children’s Benefit Auction held every summer. Last year during the COVID-19 crisis, the event was pushed back to August. This year on June 25-26 the organization will hold its annual benefit auction at the Mt. Hope Event Center. On Friday at 4 p.m., there will be a supper and sports auction. On Saturday there will be a breakfast beginning at 6:30 a.m. with the big auction beginning at 9 a.m. This will be the main event.
“We used to hold the auction in Kidron, but there were too many tents. We’re very happy to be at the Mt. Hope Event Center, where we can spread out and have lots of room,” Hershberger said.
The Friday evening auction will include sporting equipment of all kinds for the outdoors, but on Saturday the variety of things being auctioned will be immense. “We will have items like swing sets, bedroom sets, picnic tables and over 100 quilts,” Hershberger said. “And you can count on wagon loads of good odds and ends.”
With several auction rings happening at once and over 100 lots outside, the event will prove to be exciting and fast-paced.
“Last year we had more buyers’ numbers given out than we ever had,” Hershberger said. “I think it was around 1,300 buyers’ numbers. We brought more money in than ever.”
While money is not everything in life, it is the goal to keep help flowing to those who need it, and they believe this year will be bigger than last year.
“Don’t forget the food,” Hershberger said. “We will have barbecue chicken, veal sandwiches, soft pretzels and lots of noodles. It’s an experience.”
The OCCF’s biggest goal is to raise enough money to help children year after year. The benefit auction is a way to get them to that goal. The community support comes in regularly from individuals and churches in the Holmes and Wayne communities, as well as some from far away.
“People come from far and wide,” Hershberger said. “We want to thank the people who keep giving to our fund. We are so pleased and happy at the support the community has given.”
For questions about the event, call 330-674-6188.