The Facebook auction held last week to benefit Mason Wigley proved to be an overwhelming success.
A little more than $40,000 was raised for Wigley and the expenses associated with his ongoing fight against lymphoma during the auction, which ran for 48 hours from March 30 to April 1. More than 1,700 members were part of the auction's Facebook group, and they had 204 items to bid on.
“I was amazed at the generosity of the community,” said Kayla Petterson, who organized the Facebook auction alongside Chris Jones. “It was way more successful than I could have ever imagined it to be.”
Petterson thought they would be lucky to get 100 items.
The variety of items helped make for a successful auction. There was something for everyone, she said, with food, agricultural products, housewares, blankets, outdoor items and other forms of merchandise.
People were very generous, contributing high-quality items that attracted the attention of the public, so there was something that appealed to everyone.
As one of the organizers, she found it very encouraging to see the way in which people were bidding on the items.
“There are a lot of people who know the family, but there were a lot of people who had never met the family before, too, who were donating items just because that’s what the community does,” said Petterson.
The next edition of the Mercury will have more on this story.
