Raffle tickets for a custom paddle board handcrafted by Little Bay Boards and Petoskey High School Building Trades students will be available at the pre-St. Patrick’s Day FUNdraiser held at the Sagamore Room/Inn at Bay Harbor from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m., Thursday, March 14. The event also features a silent and live auction, substantial appetizers and desserts with dollars raised supporting Women’s Resource Center of Northern Michigan programs and services. Jason Thelen of Little Bay Boards (second from left) is pictured working on the board with a few of the students from the Building Trades class.

Women’s Resource Center of Northern Michigan (WRCNM) is hosting a pre-St. Patrick’s Day FUNdraiser to offer a break from the long winter with Irish-themed merriment, live and silent auctions, as well as an array of appetizers and desserts. The event raises needed dollars for WRCNM services and will take place at the Inn at Bay Harbor’s Sagamore Room from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m., Thursday, March 14.

The silent and live auctions feature a variety of unique items donated by area businesses and community members with the silent auction beginning at 5:30 p.m., and the live auction beginning at 7:00 p.m. A few of the auction items include a tandem skydive from Skydive Harbor Springs/Charlevoix, a 5-course dinner with wine and your choice French, Italian or Korean cuisine, a Little Traverse Bay sail for four on “Brilliant” an Ensign sailboat with Captain Jan Mancinelli, and a ‘sip and carve’ for four with Chef Rafina Grove to design a take-home appetizer platter.

Raffle tickets will be available at the fundraiser for a custom paddle board handcrafted of 60-year-old mahogany by Little Bay Boards and Petoskey High School Building Trades students. Raffle tickets are $100 with a limit of 100 tickets available; the value of the one-of-a-kind paddle board is $4,000. The drawing for the paddle board will take place at 1:00 p.m., May 23, 2019.

WRCNM Executive Director, Gail Kloss explained that dollars raised from both the event and the paddle board raffle are essential to the organization and help support children’s educational programming and scholarships, the 24-hour crisis and information line, heat and electricity at the domestic abuse Safe Home and counseling provided at no cost to survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault.

“We are lucky to live in such a supportive and generous community,” said Kloss. “People come to the St. Patrick’s Day event wearing green and ready to celebrate the holiday, welcome spring, revisit with friends and raise dollars so many community members rely on; it’s a fun and friendly event and the food is terrific.”

Tickets are $10 per person in advance or $15 at the door. The Sagamore Room is located in the Inn at Bay Harbor, 3600 Village Harbor Drive, Bay Harbor. Purchase event tickets by calling the WRCNM main office, at (231) 347-0067 or online at www.wrcnm.org.