Wow, well over ONE THOUSAND people have come to the Vesper Community Center this month. April has been a busy month for the Vesper Community Center volunteers with 4 well attended public events this month and one still to go. Next Thursday from 4pm to 7pm is Vesper’s first FARMERS MARKET and all sellers are welcome to sell produce, crafts and stuff. No fees are charged to participate. Attendance at bingo has been on the increase post covid and 64 players, plus guests played bingo on April 3rd. 28 players won cash prizes and Barbara Bulthaup from Beloit won the jackpot blackout round. Players, guests and take-out visitors purchased over $600 in concessions which were sold to fund raise for the center. With other donations and funds raised from the bingo, the event helped support the community programs of the facility and raised additional funds for the new floor campaign.
On April 10th, the Orvid Duane & JoAnne Huehl family trust public auction was held at the center. Upwards of 200+ people were in attendance. In a matter of hours, the assembled auction items were sold and carried away by happy bid winners. Community center volunteers sold $870 in concessions during the auction event to fund raise for the center and Jodie Wiebke’s ham salad sandwiches did not disappoint. More donations were made for the floor campaign.
On April 11th, the center was rented by a private citizen for a public presentation and over 300 people from Lincoln and other counties attended. On April 17th, a local group rented the community center for the Rylan Gier benefit dinner, raffle, silent auction and bake sale. Upwards of 500 people attended the event and over 450 dinners of smoked brisket, pulled pork, baked beans, potato salad and peach cobbler, and other snacks were distributed by the event organizers and volunteers. The delicious meat was sponsored by Thrivent Financial Services. Many of the guests who won the raffles and silent auctions donated back their prizes which were then auctioned off raising thousands of additional dollars for the benefit cause.