The Auction
Annual Chamber gala goes purple to raise funds for Alzheimer’s
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Attendees filled The Venue at Lenoir City for The Auction: Charity Gala Dinner Affair on Thursday Oct. 2. - Photos submitted
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From left, Skee and Amanda Orr with Kineteic Wealth and Connie and John Griffith were among the attendees. - Photos submitted
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FWKCC president/CEO Julie Blaylock is pictured on stage with John Goddard. - Photos submitted
Purple was the word for about 380 Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce members who attended The Auction: Charity Gala Dinner Affair in The Venue at Lenoir City, Thursday Oct. 2.
The Chamber, which included a silent auction with cocktails, dinner and concluded with a live auction, featured the color purple in honor of its non-profit partners, Alzheimer’s Association-Tennessee Chapter and Alzheimer’s Tennessee, who benefitted from part of the proceeds from the event.
Presented by Rocky Top HVAC, the gala is the “longest running fundraiser in its 38th year and with a sell-out tonight of 380 registrations,” FWKCC president/CEO Julie Blaylock said. “This has been a stable event since we got started in 1987.”
Organizers of the event included Amy Shewmake, chair; Whitney Kent, vice chair;
Anthony Slay, Gerald Allison, Joey Ruffalo, board liaison John Haney, Joshua Riley, Kathryn Schrader, Kelley
Perry, Mike Burris and Stacy Madar. Emceeing the live auction was John Goddard, Loudon County director and extension agent.
“I want to say what a pleasure it is for us to be a presenting sponsor,” said Gerald Allison with Rocky Top HVAC. “We’re proud to support the Farragut West Knox Chamber. It’s a fantastic Chamber … and also for our charities that we’re giving money.”
He asked the crowd, “Raise your hand if you’ve been touched or know someone who’s been touched by Alzheimer’s? … Almost everybody.
“And, if you watch someone going through that disease, not only them but the caretakers that care for them, it’s heartbreaking,” Allison said.
“It’s a good cause,” he added about the charities.
“You are actually letting us give back a portion of the proceeds to not one, but two non-profits,” Blaylock said. “You have made it possible for us to make a portion of the proceeds that goes to our non-profits partners triple in the last six or seven years.”
To tell about their organizations Janice Wade-Whitehead, president/CEO of Alzheimer’s Tennessee in Knoxville, and Sarah Dixon Alzheimer’s Association’s Tennessee Chapter, were on hand to talk about their organizations’ services, such as adult day care, virtual meetings for caregivers and funding research.
In addition to the charities, Blaylock said some of the funds also go toward employee training of member businesses as part of workforce grants, along with continued development grants.
Also, “you’re letting the Chamber keep adding more diverse programs to our businesses without inflating the cost of membership, which keeps access to our Chamber reasonable to even the most micro of businesses,” she said.
