Time moved to evenings to include beer, wine tastings By TONY RICCIUTO Niagara Falls Review Posted 15 hours ago
It was time for a change, and the biggest change taking place at this year's Niagara Falls Review Poor Boy Auction is the change in time.
Organizers with the United Way of Niagara Falls and Greater Fort Erie realize they are taking a risk moving the popular event from lunch hour to after work, but they hope to reach more people with such things as beer and wine tastings and entertainment.
"We hope that people will make an effort to come out. We are also breaking up the live auctions so that if people see something they really want they can make a point of coming for the time when that item is up for auction," said Lisa Taylor, who has been the committee chair for five years.
Poor Boy takes place Thursday at the Optimist Club on Dorchester Rd. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance at the United Way office or at the door.
People will get a chance to preview the items beginning at 4 p.m. The silent auction starts at 5 p.m. with the first of two live auctions starting at 5:45 p.m. and the second at 6:30 p.m.
A detailed list of the items appeared in Friday's Niagara Falls Review.
Organizers have been doing research over the last two or three years and have gathered feedback from people in attendance.
"It's hard to have wine tasting at lunch because people have to get back to work," said Taylor. "For the longest time this has been a lunchtime event, but things have been changing. We wanted to expand, branch out and bring other things into it. Hopefully, we will get the ones who came out for lunch and also the evening crowd."
Last year the Poor Boy Auction raised more than $30,000. In its 37-year history, the event has generated more than $1-million for the United Way.
After forming a partnership with the Niagara Falls Review, the United Way decided to rename the event the Niagara Falls Review Poor Boy Auction.
"It's a lot of work, but we have a committee of volunteers that have been working on this since March. A lot of it is networking and contacting certain people who have access to certain things, pulling it all together and getting all that good stuff in here," said Taylor.
"We have lots and lots of stuff, including some great wine and dine packages, some private chef's dinners which are really exciting. You can either have it prepared at your house or at one of the restaurants that is affiliated with the chef. It's a dinner for eight people so it will make for quite an awesome evening. We also have a scaled-down version where it's a three-course dinner for two," said Taylor. "We also have a few trips, a weekend getaway to Ottawa with VIA Rail passes, a trip to Florida with hotel and golf passes, so there's lots of great stuff."
And there's plenty of smaller items such as electronics and gifts for the home starting at about $35.
United Way Executive Director Carol Stewart-Kirkby said they are pretty excited about the new format.
"We hope people will come out and support us. There's no way we could do this without the support of our volunteers and the Optimist Club who let us use their building."
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