Donations are coming in for Oaklawn’s online benefit auction March 17-25

Local residents and businesses have been busily at work, volunteering and donating items for Oaklawn’s “Feelin’ Lucky” benefit auction, to be held online March 17-25.

Hundreds of items for the auction – including trips, event and show tickets, memorabilia, specialty products, services, and gift certificates – typically are gathered and catalogued for each year’s auction.

The auction will include “live” activities streamed across social-media platforms. The public will be able to access the event online at oaklawnhospital.org/benefit-auction.

“A huge highlight for our 32nd annual event is a raffle being sponsored by BluFish Consulting and the Marshall Community Credit Union,” said Jenna Ellis, Oaklawn’s development manager.

“Two lucky winners will be drawn with the opportunity to win their choice of three great prizes,” she added.

Those prizes include:

— An “outdoor luxury package” valued at $2,710, featuring a 33-inch Breeo Luxeve Fire Pit, two YETI brand basecamp chairs and a BluFish-branded RTIC cooler.

— Equipment for a “virtual game night,” valued at $2,380 and including a 50-inch Samsung “The Frame” television screen, a 32-inch Arcade 1Up Infinity Game Table, an Oculus Quest 2 virtual-reality set and a JBL Flip 5 speaker.

— A $1,500 check made out to the winner.

Many other donated items include a package of camping items donated by the office of local State Farm insurance agent Sandy Woods; and specialty Solo Stove units donated separately by the Kellogg Community Credit Union and Southern Michigan Bank & Trust.

A two-night vacation stay at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, California, also is being offered.

This year’s goal is to raise at least $75,000 to purchase two new Dräger medical ventilators, Ellis said.

Oaklawn’s annual event is to begin Thursday, March 17, and continue through the evening of Friday, March 25. It will be conducted online as a creative response to the ongoing global pandemic, by keeping all participants safe.

To encourage participation and donations, all entry fees are being waived this year, Ellis added.

“That means more people than ever can join us for the auction,” she said. “We hope donors will use the money they typically would spend on their entry ticket instead on our raffles and silent-auction items.”

Additional information may be obtained by contacting Ellis at jlellis@oaklawnhospital.com or (269) 789-7494.