Boone Service League hosts fashion show

By Caroline Monday

The Boone Service League (BSL) held its annual spring fundraiser and fashion show at the Inn at Crestwood last Saturday, April 26. All proceeds will go to support the league’s grant and scholarship programs and other community support efforts.

Nicole Scheffler models clothing from South’s Specialty Clothiers during the Boone Service League’s Fashion Show on Saturday. Photo by Mark Mitchell

The event began with heavy hors d’oeuvres and a silent auction. A few of the items included stays at various local inns and resorts, gift certificates to area restaurants and gift baskets from High Country businesses.

This year, the fashion show portion of the event was interspersed with live auction items, with Jenny Miller, director of High Country United Way, acting as auctioneer. Those items included tickets to An Appalachian Summer Festival, artwork, passes to the Wachovia Golf Championship and Appalachian State University season football tickets.

The largest piece in the live auction was a football signed by ASU’s 2007 NCAA Division 1 FCS Championship football team. The winning bid on the football came to $975.

This year’s fashion show spotlighted an assortment of fashions from area stores. The stores include: Belk, Dress Barn, Footsloggers, Monkees, Mast Store, South Clothiers, Tanner, The Fig Leaf Ltd. and various local ASU merchants. High Country celebrities Mayor Loretta Clawson, N.C. Sen. Steve Goss and ASU football coach Jerry Moore with his wife, Margaret, appeared as models for the show.

Kathy Parham, director of the Children’s Playhouse, a local nonprofit benefiting from the BSL’s efforts, said local groups benefit when an organization like the BSL devotes its time to fundraising.

Fundraising is essential for the operation of all nonprofits, but it can often be a distraction from the goals an organization has to help the community, Parham said. An organization devoted to fundraising and then to distributing the money they have raised, BSL helps take some of the burden off groups who provide services.

Kelly Sechrist, president of the BSL, said “We are so excited about the potential of the money we can raise here today and what that can do in the community.”

At the event, the organization named the recipients of its annual grant cycle. These were OASIS, the Hunger Coalition, the Department of Social Services’ foster care program, the Watauga Humane Society, the Children’s Playhouse, Hospitality House, Ashe County Free Medical Center and Grandfather Home for Children.

This event is BSL’s largest fundraiser. Last year’s event raised more than $20,000. An amount raised is not yet available for this year’s event.

Through this and other annual events, such as Christmas pictures and holiday gift-wrapping, the organization is able to offer assistance that reaches many people in Ashe, Avery and Watauga counties. The Boone Service League provides six scholarship programs for middle and high school students and rising college freshmen each year. The organization also provides assistance for general operating funds and special projects for local non-profit organizations that operate in the High Country.