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EDUCATION IS BIG WINNER AT HTEF ART AUCTION
By Keith Hagarty
 | | --Photo By Keith Hagarty Over $7,000 was raised for the Howell Township Education Foundation from their art auction held last week at Memorial Middle School. The event was deemed a complete success by HTEF leaders, marking the inaugural fundraiser for the foundation. |
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Going once … going twice … sold!
Over 150 paintings, photographs and other colorful works of art ranging from internationally acclaimed artists to the budding talents of local students took center stage last week as the Howell Township Education Foundation (HTEF) held their first ever art auction.
"The event in our estimation went extremely well," said HTEF Chairman Dr. Anthony Novembre. "I had thought we'd raise around $7,000, so we were really on target."
The HTEF is a non-profit organization developed by Howell Township community members to provide the students of Howell with enriched learning opportunities and increased educational experiences.
The $7,000 included the sale of over 300 tickets, numerous donations and a percentage of the artwork sold at the auction. In all, 94 pieces were sold out of the total 154 submitted to the auction, with an authenticated untitled painting by renowned Spanish Surrealist painter and sculptor Joan Miro selling for $950.
Perhaps even more significant than the thousands of dollars raised for the foundation and the impressive artistic displays up for auction was the feedback Novembre continually received from the hundredplus patrons in attendance.
"I ran into people after the art auction who said, 'I didn't know that there was a Howell Township Education Foundation,'" he said. "So we did a couple things: number one was to raise everybody's awareness that there is a foundation, and number two, this was our first attempt in raising money, so I think we did extremely well."
With several established organizations in Howell constantly seeking donations from the public, such as the various parent teacher associations, Howell Chamber of Commerce and the police benevolence association, Novembre said he was pleasantly surprised by the warm reception shown to the foundation.
"We were impressed and we were amazed that we got the tremendous support that we did," he said.
Novembre thanked all those involved from the staff and administration throughout the school district and volunteer parents for making the night a success, singling out Howell resident Dr. Hal Ornstein for his dedication and tireless work in heading the HTEF art auction committee and getting the word out throughout the community, including procuring the services of the New York-based Marlin Art providing many of the pieces, along with Applebee's Restaurant who catered the event for free.
"In my estimation, he did an indispensable job," said Novembre. "I heard nothing but good things about the auction, about the foundation and about the school board. It really was an uplifting evening for all of us who a put a lot of work into it."
Above all else, Novembre thanked all those who donated their time and money to the auction and the foundation.
"A tremendous thank you to support our art auction and supporting our mission, and for supporting the children of Howell Township," he said. "I'm really moved by the number of people who really pitched in to make it work. It was a total team effort."
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