The 7th Annual BOOST Bash was held this past Saturday and over $60,000 was raised to support the staff and students of the Greene County School District.

The Bringing Optimism and Opportunities to Students and Teachers (BOOST) event started with the recognition of all staff members of the Greene County School District, along with those that had milestones of five to 30 years. Additionally, ten staff were honored for their upcoming retirements at the end of the school year. Those individuals included: LeeAnna Ausberger, Heather Berglund, Teresa Brown, Kelly Olson, Kevin Paulsen, Teresa Shahan, Ann Hicks, Coleen Sillyman, Deb Marquardt and Jean Vickers McKenzie.

The auction portion of the event started with the popular pie auction where 14 donated pies went for a total of $12,850. The silent auction brought in a total of $9,205 with the most expensive item being $805 for an autographed Iowa Hawkeye Women’s Basketball player Caitlin Clark bobblehead doll. The mid-point game was a heads or tails version, but participants had to wear or not wear a grocery bag. Eighty-five bags were sold for a total of $2,125 and the winner was Jillian Anglemyer, who earned $1,000 of gift cards to Hy-Vee. The live auction made another $18,650 and the item that had the highest single amount was an experience package for a group of people to tour Exile Brewing Company in Des Moines, followed by watching an Iowa Cubs game from a Skybox suite. The last part was a final giving opportunity where individuals gave certain dollar amount as another contribution, which totaled $8,400.

BOOST member Steve Karber was made a believer of this fundraiser after its first year. So it’s been beyond my expectations. It’s just really heartwarming to see how the community does support our educators and our kids.”

“(BOOST member) Chris Deal said the goal the first year was $50,000. Having worked with a number of other fundraising groups, I said, ‘You’re nuts!’ We got $70,000 the first year. 

In seven years, BOOST has raised over $400,000.