NAAA Members Raise $100,000-plus for Charity at Convention



FREDERICK, MD —National Auto Auction Association members raised more than $100,000 for charity during the organization’s 69th annual convention last month. The proceeds from two separate special auction events conducted by NAAA’s four regional chapters and ServNet benefited six different charitable causes.

At the Chapter Charity Auction, introduced this year as part of the President’s Gala, each of NAAA’s four chapters put exclusive items on the block in a friendly competition to raise the most money for a charity of the individual chapter’s choice. Of the total $61,250 collected:

  • The Eastern Chapter received the evening’s highest bid of $18,500 for its two-day high-performance driving course in Birmingham, Alabama, accommodations at the Grand Bohemian Mountain Brook luxury hotel and dinner with driving instructors. The funds went to support two causes — House in the Woods, a therapeutic, recreational, and educational retreat in Maine where those who served in the U.S. military and their families can come to heal, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in memory of 13-year-old Darcy Raye Cassidy of Meridian, Texas, who died in October after an extended battle with a rare brain tumor.

  • A bid of $15,500 won the Southern Chapter’s golf package of two daily badges to the 2018 Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, with access to the hospitality facility each day and a hotel room, to benefit Victory Junction, a North Carolina camp that provides a medically safe experience for children with serious health conditions.

  • Close behind was the Western Chapter with $15,000 tendered for His and Her matching Rolex watches with accompanying Louis Vuitton men’s wallet and women’s mini pochette in Damier Azur canvas to aid the American Cancer Society.

  • The Midwest Chapter’s One-of-a-kind Rolex with the NAAA logo in gold on the face and engraved on the back brought in $12,250 for the Lynnway Accident Fund, an ongoing campaign to assist the victims of the tragedy and their families.

A second charity auction conducted by ServNet at the Independent Auction Group meeting at the convention raised $48,450 for the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University in honor of Henry Stanley. The owner of the Carolina and Indiana Auto Auctions has been successfully treated at the nonprofit cancer research and patient care center based in Atlanta, Georgia.

The items auctioned and the donors were:

  • A week’s stay in a log cabin at Telluride, Colorado, with the use of a Suburban; Auto Tech and Auction Insurance Agency

  • A guitar signed by Vince Gill and Amy Grant and a fiddle autographed by Charlie Daniels; Carbucks

  • A week at a timeshare in Key Largo, Florida, with $1,000 in travel vouchers and deep sea fishing trip; Carolina Auto Auction

  • 2018 Derby Experience package that includes two tickets to the Kentucky Oaks and Derby races plus a three-night stay in Louisville, Kentucky; Clark County Auto Auction

  • “Oklahoma Legends” football autographed by three University of Oklahoma Heisman Trophy winners; Dealers Auto Auction

  • A trip for two to the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway that includes airfare, hotel transportation, pit access and infield barbeque; McConkey Auction Group

  • Steuben trademark crystal bowl and a pair of candlesticks; Stateline Auto Auction

Since the convention event, Carolina Auto Auction has continued to raise money for melanoma research and care at Winship, including employees participating in Beards for Bucks and Ugliest Christmas Attire contests. Also, the Stanley family, NAAA’s Southern Chapter, dealers, industry colleagues, friends and even competitors have made donations, bringing Carolina’s campaign to a total of $100,000 to date.

The Williamston, South Carolina, auction has ongoing fundraising efforts in the works, such as auctioning four footballs signed by the head coach of the Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and Oklahoma teams to commemorate this year’s college playoffs and a golf tournament in May.

###