For many, Children's Auction kicks off the season of joy

LACONIA — Brenda Martel grew up in a family where charitable giving was an expectation. So, it’s only natural that she’s been a supporter of the Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction for “as long as I can remember,” she said.

She’s among the many people that plan on putting a dent – if not a gaping hole – in their shopping list by bidding on items during the week of the Children’s Auction. Over the years, Martel has been the winning bidder on a couch, a kayak, and a door, she said. “I always do my Christmas shopping,” via the auction, she said. She sometimes gets something for herself, too. Last year she bid on a gift certificate for an excursion on the NH Tiki Boats – a floating bar that takes groups out for water-borne parties.

She said she gets “addicted” to the auction, which this year is starting today, Dec. 8. Prospective bidders can follow the action by tuning their radios to 104.9FM and 101.5FM, by watching channels 12 and 25 on Atlantic Broadband cable service, or by watching the live stream at either laconiadailysun.com or live.lrpa.org.

“I get very addicted to this, I’m glued to the television or the computer monitor. I hate it when I have to run an errand and miss something,” she said.

Martel, owner of Cafe Deja Vu in Laconia, said her generosity is spurred by the knowledge that the proceeds of the auction will fund grants to local organizations that improve the lives and futures of children.

“It definitely makes me feel good, giving back to the community,” Martel said.

In 2019, the auction’s 38th year, the event raised $600,032. That money was distributed to 72 organizations. On the list of recipients was The Pass Along Project, which was started by Lynette Kaichen in 2017 to help children who are entering the foster care system.

Kaichen said she was surprised to see what it was like for children and the families that welcome them. Child welfare workers have the legal authority remove a child from the home, but not any possessions. That means that the only clothing they have is what they were wearing at the time. Kaichen learned this detail when she and her husband became foster parents five years ago.

“Foster parents can plan ahead for most things -- a room with toys, toothbrushes, et cetera. But the one thing they can’t plan ahead for is clothing. They don’t know who the call is going to be for,” Kaichen said. “The kids come into foster care with nothing. I was upset by that.”

That’s why she founded the Pass Along Project. Kaichen started by herself, assembling clothing, shoes and outerwear, organized by gender and age and sorted into plastic tubs. Each tub contains enough clothing to get a child through a week.

Over the past three years, Pass Along Project has grown into a network of volunteers and strategically located storage facilities. When a child is placed, a volunteer from her organization arrives at the home, typically before bedtime, with a tub of clean, new or gently used clothing, including a pair of pajamas for that first night’s sleep in their new home.

The Pass Along Project is now active in the Laconia area, thanks to a $5,000 grant from last year’s Children’s Auction. Kaichen said she plans to apply for more funding this year, as she would like to set up storage facilities in Alton and Plymouth.

Over the past three years, Kaichen said the Pass Along Project has helped 1,200 children. It’s an impressive figure, but the need is greater yet, as about 1,500 children enter the foster care system every year in New Hampshire, she said.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire received $10,000 from the Children’s Auction. Casey Caster, vice president of community relations, said the mentoring program has been active in Laconia for about two years, and has continued, either with virtual meeting technology or outdoor, distanced meeting, through the pandemic. She said that there are 30 Laconia area children matched with adult mentors for weekly meetings, and 18 children -- known as “Littles” in the organization’s nomenclature -- waiting to be paired with an adult, or a “Big.”

Caster said the grant from the Children’s Auction helped to accelerate the program’s establishment in the Lakes Region, as it funded background checks and interviews for adult volunteers, and enrollment of the children.

Though Big Brothers Big Sisters has only been in the area for a short time, Caster said they’ve already made some strong relationships. The Gilford Police Department has signed up for the “Bigs with Badges” program, in which “Littles” are matched with a mentor who works in emergency services. Big Brothers Big Sisters was also planning to initiate a workplace monitoring program, which has been delayed due to the pandemic. Caster said those plans are ready to move forward once it’s safe to do so.

“We’re definitely going to be doing that, and hoping to serve more kids in the community,” Caster said. “There’s definitely a lot more room for growth in the Lakes Region, and there’s tremendous community support.”

Covid concerns

Over the course of its history, the Children’s Auction has repeatedly smashed prior fundraising records. Jaimie Sousa, chair of the auction’s board of directors, said that she wasn’t necessarily expecting that trend to continue. Instead, with all of the challenges involved in staging the auction during these unusual times, success might be defined in a different way.

“There’s so many factors in trying to pull off an auction in a completely different way. Success might be if the technology doesn’t fail. Really, we’re just happy that we were able to overcome so many challenges and make the technology work,” Sousa said. “Whatever we do, we will do the best that we can for the kids, and that will be a success.”

Sousa shares something in common with Martel, in that they both do at least some of their gift shopping through the auction. It’s a bit harder for Sousa, because she has her hands full while the auction is under way, but this year will be a bit easier for her because of the option to become a “Super Bidder” and place bids on items ahead of time.

There’s another thing that the two women share. Martel isn’t only a frequent bidder, she also supports the auction through volunteer efforts. She is a captain of Team Cafe Deja Vu, which was one of the more prolific fund raising teams in Pub Mania, a 24-hour barstool challenge organized by Patrick’s Pub. Pub Mania grew to become one of the reasons that the auction total grew year over year -- last year the event contributed $355,000 to the auction’s total.

With coronavirus preventing the Gilford pub from putting on a crowded inside event, Pub Mania has evolved into the It’s For the Kids Community Challenge, in which teams compete to raise funds on their own.

The problem is, said Martel, the pandemic hindered her team’s ability to put on those fund raising events that had been so successful in prior years.

“Normally our Cafe Deja Vu Pub Mania team raises a lot of money,” Martel said. “Obviously, this year we were not able to do the fund raising that we normally do.” She expected that other teams faced the same realities, which would mean that the auction itself would have to do better just to keep pace with last year’s total.

“People need to spend money, get some great gifts and donate to bring items for the auction itself,” Martel said. “I just feel like the need is greater than ever. I feel like people need to bid high, bid often.” Even if that means that they’re bidding against her? “Yes, please bid against me… I like the challenge.”

For her part, Sousa remains optimistic about the generosity of the Lakes Region, which she has seen time and again. This spring, for example, when schools abruptly went remote, checks started showing up in the mailboxes of local Got Lunch! programs even before those organizations asked for help.

Behind all of the auction’s efforts, Sousa said, is a feeling that has come to define this season for people like her.

“It’s just a pure joy of people giving for the right reason,” Sousa said. “It’s hard to describe, the spirit of the community is showing up for each other… I don’t put up a tree at my house, because this is my Christmas. It’s people coming together and caring for each other.”