This year’s Talkeetna Bachelor Auction raised $91,000 for local groups in one weekend. The funds will be split among 21 recipients. That includes $20,000 for the Talkeetna Bachelor’s Endowment Fund for Women and Children in Crisis.
Talkeetna Bachelor Society Board Member Phillip Manning says that local non-profits are awarded based on the amount of funding available and how they fit with the Society’s mission. Each year, the Society makes a large contribution to their endowment through the Alaska Community Foundation. Annual donations continue to grow and the Society is now able to carry reserve funds should community needs arise outside the grant cycle.
Manning says the Society is always looking for new ways to provide more help to local women, children, and families. Before 2021, a great year might bring auction proceeds of about $20,000. Last year brought in $70,000. Manning says it’s difficult to realistically put a number on what they might raise next year.
The Talkeetna Bachelor Society hosted its first event in 1981 at the Fairview Inn. Events became profitable in 1989 and the Society began donating funds to local non-profit organizations at that time.
Talkeetna Bachelor Society Secretary Tracy Steere says that all 178 tickets for this year’s auction sold in seconds. This year’s event auctioned 28 bachelors.
Manning says that the donations continue to increase because of the generosity of business donors from across the state and increased effort from the bachelors. That means higher bids for their packages. He says they saw the biggest packages ever this year.
Phillip Manning is also the news director for KTNA.
