A selection of Amish goods, from buggies to quilts and furniture to shoofly pies, will be auctioned off this weekend to raise funds for the victims of the West Nickel Mines School shootings.
The owner of Martin Auctioneers Inc., which holds internationally known auctions of coaches, carriages, sleighs and antiques twice yearly at Lebanon Fairgrounds, is helping to coordinate a benefit sale to run in conjunction with his own regularly scheduled auction.
“When this started going down with the victims at the schoolhouse, we started getting calls from some of our clients all over the United States and a few European countries,” auctioneer Paul Z. Martin said Monday.
“They asked if they could help in some way.”
On Oct. 2, 32-year-old Charles Carl Roberts IV of Bart Township took 10 Amish girls hostage in a one-room schoolhouse on White Oak Road in Bart Township. Roberts shot all 10 girls, killing five and wounding five, before killing himself.
Since then, donations have been pouring in from all over the world to help the close-knit Amish community cover medical expenses for the injured girls and other costs.
Martin said the timing was right for the auction house to step in and help because a sale was already scheduled for Friday and Saturday. It made sense, he said, to expand the sale to include a fundraiser for the Nickel Mines shooting victims. “The Amish families are going to run a separate auction at the Lebanon Fairgrounds starting at 9 a.m. Saturday,” Martin said.
The benefit auction will be held on the same property as the carriage sale, he noted, but in a separate facility.
“All of the money that’s brought in will be going to the Nickel Mines school victims,” he said. “And they are definitely looking for donations.”
Items will be accepted for sale at the auction site at 80 Rocherty Road, Lebanon, from noon to 6 p.m. Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday. Arrangements also can be made to drop off items in the Intercourse area, Martin said, by calling 768-8484 or 354-6671.
The benefit auction will run until all items are sold, he said.
Items already collected for sale include carts, carriages, horse-related equipment, gazebos, storage sheds, baked goods, quilts, new and used Amish-made furniture, gift certificates for local vendors and attractions, hardware and “whatever else is donated,” Martin said.
Wishing wells will be set up at the sale for cash donations as well, he said. The wells — once the cash has been removed, of course — will be sold by the end of the day. Volunteers also are needed to help with sales, record-keeping and labor, Martin said.
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