By Rona Saunders

The Catawba Valley British Motor Club held our annual fund raiser during the Christmas party in December.  We had quite a number of items for auction this year.  Everything from Christmas decorations, car parts, books, to hand painted bird houses and car enthusiast embroidered clothing.  Many of the items were made by the wonderfully creative members in our club.  Jerry Sicard’s annual donation of one of his carvings is always the hottest item in our “not so silent” bidding wars.
 
It is a hoot to watch members out bid each other for numerous items.   The tactics improve with each year.  It has become a team effort between the various couples in the club to see who can out-smart the other couples.  A bid is made…and then a wily smile is exchanged in triumph.  But look out when time is called, because the traffic to the tables is as bad as 5:00PM on the freeway!

Some of the ladies also contributed food items to be raffled.  Priscilla Guenther donated her famous one-of-a-kind Cheese Cake.  Kathy Ahrendt provided an assortment of her luscious Cookies and Candies.  While Rona Saunders, made a scratch made Carrot Cake to be raffled off.

This year we donated our proceeds to a local non-profit organization called Safe Rescue Harbor Mission.  This Christ-centered organization provides women with assistance in rebuilding their lives through immediate and long term programs.  They provide both temporary and as much as one year housing opportunities through various assistance programs.  They provide job training through community outreach programs.     The Safe Harbor Warehouse is a retail store, where clients work to pay their assistance forward, by helping to re-purpose items to be sold to raise more funds to help keep the program going.   Safe harbor also provides opportunities and resources to assist clients in healing past wounds and learning to cope with life's constant curves.  The goal of this organization is to help transition these women into independent living in a loving and supportive way.

As a caring and community conscience club, the membership of CVBMC felt that Safe Harbor Rescue Mission mirrored the values we collectively share for one another and the people around us here in Hickory.