Sold! Playcentre’s TradeMe art auction a great success
A recent art auction run on TradeMe by the Collingwood Playcentre has raised almost $3000 towards a building extension at the Playcentre.
Twenty-five items were sold to buyers from all around New Zealand with one item even going overseas, said Joanne Haldane, a member of the Playcentre fundraising team.
“We were trying to come up with a different way to raise money and thought that we should utilise the fact that Golden Bay is famous for its artistic community. We approached the artists for donations and were overwhelmed by their generosity. Many of those we spoke to had children or grandchildren who had been to Playcentre. They fully supported our cause.”
Donations ranged from pictures and sculptures to jewellery, foodstuffs, pottery and outdoor furniture. Bidding for individual items reached between $25 and $501.
“We felt that the Golden Bay community has already supported many of our fundraising activities, so by conducting the auction on TradeMe we were able to target buyers all around New Zealand. It also meant that the auction could run for an entire week, eliminating the need to get all potential buyers in one place at one time, which can be a problem with conventional auctions.
“When the final bidding closed on the Sunday afternoon, we were delighted with the results. Almost every item had sold and many of them had exceeded their market value,” said Mrs Haldane.
Recent changes to government regulations concerning early childhood education centres have meant that the bathrooms, kitchen and sleeping facilities at Collingwood have to be significantly upgraded. The parents’ committee decided that the most cost-effective way to address these issues was to build an extension. It was then discovered that extending the indoor play area at the same time wouldn’t add much to the overall cost.
“We are currently licensed to cater for 25 children at each of our three weekly sessions, and enrolment is almost at capacity,” said Mrs Haldane. “By enlarging the play area our licence can be altered to increase the number of children per session.”
Although building work has recently started, more funds are still needed and the Playcentre is planning further fundraising activities for the near future.
Sarah Milligan
