Sweet treats take spotlight at Iron City Ministries auction

Do I hear $20? Auctioneer Thomas Moss keeps the bidders moving Saturday evening at the Iron City Ministry's 5th annual auction and bake sale. The event, one of two fundraisers held each year by the faith-based organization, consisted of a baked goods and food sale, a silent auction, an indoor yard sale and a live auction. Items put up for bid ranged from a digital television to large bolts of fabric. But the hottest bidding often came on homemade cakes, a tradition of sorts for kind-hearted sponsors of the ministry's good work. While the cakes at the Iron City Ministry's charity auction might not have been made from gold, the hearts of the people bidding on them surely must have been made of the precious material.

One delicious-looking — but otherwise ordinary — sheet cake sold for $130.

Another cake brought in an eye-raising $185.

For those bidding, it really wasn't about the cake or the whopping price per slice their bids represented. And organizers of the annual charity event could do nothing but smile at the generosity, knowing every dollar raised was going to be put to much-needed use in Cherokee County.

Now in its fifth year the bake sale and auction is one of two main fundraisers held each year for the faith-based charity, the other being a bike ride in the spring. While the Iron City Ministry is headquartered in Blacksburg, and the majority of its member churches are from Blacksburg, its help goes countywide.

About 68 percent of the ministry's "clients" are from Gaffney while 30 percent are from Blacksburg, said Elaine Fulton, the ministry's executive director.

Altogether, Saturday's combined bake sale and auction held at Blacksburg Middle School brought in about $10,000 for the Iron City Ministry's charitable works.

"We never set a goal," Fulton said. "We determined a long time ago that wasn't something we could do."

The money raised will help pay for medicine, medical bills or food for the ministry's clients, who typically are low-income seniors, families and single parents that Fulton said often "fall through the cracks."

Given the current state of the economy, some ministry officials said they already are seeing an uptick in the need for the ministry's assistance. For comparison, Fulton said the charity averaged about 25 clients a day as of a year ago and now is averaging more than 35.

While the cakes were a hot item among the kind-hearted bidders, other items put up for auction were often sold at very reasonable or even modest prices. Many items were within reach for bidders with little money in their wallets.

Items put up for auction ranged from a new digital television and DVD player to large bolts of fabric, furniture and autographed sports memorabilia.

The high bids for the cakes have become somewhat of a tradition among a group of local residents who pool their money throughout the year for the charity, explained Fulton and Rev. Brian Harris of Rock Springs Baptist Church.

The auction wouldn't work without a lot of help and donations from area businesses, said Lacey Clark, a board member of the ministry who headed up the auction planning. Each year, auction committee members approach businesses in Blacksburg, Gaffney and Shelby, N.C., for donated items while items are collected throughout the year at the ministry's office.

Sponsorships also help tremendously, ministry officials said. Among the businesses and individuals sponsoring Saturday's event were: Blakely Funeral Home, Byars Auto, CBS Surveying and Mapping, P&L Erosion Control, American Community Bank, Deltex, the Blacksburg Rotary Club, St. John's United Methodist Church, Medicine Mart, Herbie's Fireworks and Sue Drye.

Amazingly, Fulton said the ministry's medicine program started eight years ago with a $10,000 grant that was gone within eight months. The ministry has been able to keep that program going without any more grant money coming in.