The Heartland Artists Gallery hosted a women’s-only fundraising event on Thursday, May 3rd to benefit the Gallery and five other local nonprofit organizations. This event included a live auction of hand-painted chairs created by local artists, as well as food, wine, and local entertainment.
The event, attended by over 75 women eager to support the Heartland Artists Gallery as well as the Marshall County Neighborhood Center, Discover Plymouth Arts, Heminger House, Marshall County Humane Society, and Bread of Life Food Pantry, began with drinks and homemade appetizers and a fantastic musical performance by the Rose Hips – a local, all-female singing group. Following the entertainment, Dave Goebel of RE/MAX Oak Crest Realty, performed a live auction of 17 beautiful and unique hand-painted chairs and coordinating gift baskets.
Eight local artists and Gallery members Carrolyne Babcock, Marge Burkholder, Jayne Jacobson, Anna Kietzman, Rosie Mireles, Nancy Schmelter, Bobbi Sebahar, and Kathy Zentz created a unique variety of chairs ranging from animal themes of birds, cats, zebras, and elephants, to colorful and vibrant florals, to Disney and art-themed children’s chairs, to Monet and Indiana-inspired pieces.
Gift baskets, filled with donated items such as gift certificates to local eateries, bottles of wine and spirits, chocolates, note cards, art supplies, and certificates for art classes at the Gallery, accompanied the chairs. Items were donated by local businesses and individuals including The Brass Rail Bar & Grill, Hacienda, Shelley Heiden of Said Simply Cards, Plymouth Party Pack, La D’zert Café, Opie’s Deli, Sugar Shack Bakery, Yolanda’s, Al & Dawn Smith, Susan Fortin, and Russell Kietzman of Edward Jones.
The auction alone raised over $1,700 and was split 60/40 between the Gallery and the five other organizations. Ticket proceeds also went directly to the five nonprofits but were allocated based on “votes” from the attendees. Overall, the event raised over $1,700 for the five organizations and just over $1,000 for the Heartland Artists Gallery, totaling around $2,700 for the first-time event.
Anna Kietzman, President of the Heartland Artists Gallery, presented each organization with a check on Monday, May 21st. She stated, “We are thrilled to be able to share the proceeds of this fundraiser with other local nonprofits. Each one of these organizations is uniquely valuable to this community and we should support each other as much as possible since we all share a common goal – making Plymouth the best place it can be. We hope to do more fundraisers like this in the future.”
The Gallery’s mission is to support area artists; to bring and to teach the arts to our community. Our nonprofit Gallery fulfills the mission by giving area artists a venue to show and sell their art, and art classes fulfill our mission for educating. Art classes assist in our financial means to maintain the Gallery. More information can be found at www.heartlandartgallery.com, Facebook, or by calling 574-936-9515.
Photo 1: Anna Kietzman presented checks to the other local nonprofit organizations. Pictured: Shelley Heiden (Heartland
Artists), Linda Vialard (Bread of Life), Chris Garner (Marshall County Neighborhood Center), Nancy Cox (Marshall County
Humane Society), Allie Shook (Discover Plymouth), and Anna Kietzman (Heartland Artists). Not pictured: Heminger House
Photo 2: Terri Weldy is so tickled that she won the bid for the ‘Peacock’ chair painted by Nancy Schmelter.
Caption 2: Dawn Smith is now the proud owner of ‘Anna- Frozen’ chair and Sandy Saenz won the bid for the ‘Olaf’ chair, both
wonderfully painted by Jayne Jacobson.
