Untapped Talent Revealed
A play by play of the Symposium Auction
BY MARY GERMEAU, BOD
 

It has been said that when the “Nick” is away, the mice will play. In this case, our very talented and amusing regular host for the raffle/ auction, Nick McDonald was away in Alaska and some relatively unknown talent filled in for him during the auction portion of our annual fundraiser for the PSIA-NW Scholarship Fund. More on these talented newcomers a little later on.

As is traditional, many members of the PSIA-NW Board, ski school directors and other PSIA-NW members generously donated items to the raffle and auction which was held Saturday night at the Symposium dinner in Bend Oregon. Many members had enthusiastically purchased numbers of raffle tickets on Thursday, Friday and Saturday so that they would be eligible for a chance to win items such as sunglasses from Rick Lyon, Sally Brawley and Wayne Nagai, retro ski outfits fresh from Ed Kane’s storage closet, boot dryers from Rob Croston, a pashmina shawl from Molly Fitch, retro skis from John Weston, scarves from Chris Saario and Pam Humble, Amtrak Companion Tickets from John Eisenhauer, a “ski things” basket from Kay Stoneberg and the gang at Anthony Lakes, a spotlight from Mark Schinman, a quilt from John Winterscheid, ski stuff from Karen Moldstad and green fees from David Sword.

The excitement and anticipation began to build as the auction portion of the evening neared. Who knew that Lane McLaughlin could have a second career as a ski salesman until he hawked a pair of Salomon Pilot Skis with bindings to Gary Terusaki? The skis were generously donated by Kelly Jett, a rep from the Salomon Ski Company. This is the third year in a row that Salomon has donated skis and bindings to our fundraiser. Ed Younglove is our PSIA-NW president, but also a budding salesman as he kept Rob Croston bidding higher on a golf green fees and carts for four at Fairwood Golf and Country Club in Renton. This is the second year that Takashi Tsukamaki has been able to facilitate this donation. We have yet to hear the scores from this match, but I am sure that fun will be had by all of Rob’s friends in the foursome.

One of the newer members of our Tech Team made a name for himself as he auctioned off an Estate Planning Package donated by Ed Younglove’s law firm. Rick Lyon demonstrated great salesmanship, creativity and a gift for moving the bid up as he sold the package to Debra Brown. Debra seemed pleased to be able to up date her will and health directives as we all should, myself included, but I did not have the winning bid.

Linda Cowan and Marty O’Conner were a comedy team who not only modeled, but aggressively sold a matched pair of sunglasses (each with four interchangeable lenses) to Mr. and Mrs. T. (Thompson, for those who question my short hand) We all know that Linda is short and Marty is tall, but who knew that they were also funny and ready for open mike night at the comedy club. I know that Chris and Judy are styling in their very cool glasses this summer. These two pair of glasses were donated by board member Wayne Nagai. He also donated two more pair of glasses to the raffle.

P.J. Jones did the auctioneer honors for a great children’s ski basket donated by Ronne and Sharon Linnane, directors of Ski Klasses Ski School at Stevens Pass. The backpack filled with children’s gear was purchased by young Jordan Petram who did all the bidding, including raising his own bid. I hope that he is enjoying the items. Last, but not least, Rob Croston, member of the BOD, led the bidding on a two-hour ski lesson with Chris Kastner. This included two lift tickets at Crystal Mountain. Rob came into his own and the auctioning of this item could have gone on all night. Finally, Chris’s services were purchased by David Sword and his wife Claire. I know that they have plans to have a great time with Chris.

At the close of the banquet, our fundraiser had netted over $2400.00 for the PSIA-NW Scholarship Fund. This money is available for Scholarships for all PSIA-NW members. In order to apply for a scholarship, a member can download the two-page application from the website. This includes a form to be filled out by the candidate’s ski school director and another form to be filled out by the candidate, him/herself. These need to be sent to Barb in the office at least one month before the class, clinic or event the member would like to attend. Money will be granted on a need and merit basis. The scholarship is for tuition only. Lifts, travel and lodging must be paid by the member.