2026 ONLINE AUCTION 
Another awesome opportunity to support our mission team's fundraising efforts!
SUMMARY
  • GET ITEMS!   Youth and families donate items or work with our auction organizers to gather donations from community businesses.
  • BID!    Bid early! Bid often!  Ask others to join the fun!  Auction will run May 8 - May 18, 2026
  • PAY!   Payments will be accepted  by credit card online or by cash/check at time of pickup. 
  • PICKUP!  Item pick up will be at First United Methodist Church,120 West Main Street, Westborough. Gift cards can be mailed upon request. If you need alternate arrangements, email [email protected] ​
MORE INFO FROM OUR AUCTION ORGANIZERS...
As we prepare for this summer’s Appalachia Service Project (ASP) mission trip, we are excited to once again host our “Friends of ASP” Online Auction, which will take place May 8–18, 2026, to coincide with our annual Prep Retreat. This auction is one of our most important fundraisers because we ask our community businesses to support our cause. A successful auction goes a long way toward making it possible for our volunteers to serve families in Central Appalachia.
 
This year, our auction’s goal is to raise $15,000 that will aid in sending your youth and 74 other young people, along with 35 adult Group Leaders, to make a difference and provide hope to communities in need.  The support from you, our ASP families, plays a vital role in making this mission possible.
We are reaching out to ask for your help and creativity to find donations for our auction.
Do you know anyone, or do you have a family connection to any business, that might be willing to donate an item to our auction?
Types of Items:
We are looking for a wide variety of items (new or like-new) such as:
  • Gift cards to restaurants, stores, or local businesses
  • Tickets to events, sports games, ski resorts, or attractions
  • Museum or Park admission passes
  • Vacation homes or fun experiences (esp. outside of Central Mass)
  • Golf outings
  • Gift Baskets
  • Professional services (lessons, photography sessions, landscaping, tutoring, cooking lessons, etc.)
 Business Donation or Sponsorship
If you own a business or have connections to businesses that might be willing to contribute a gift card, service, product, tickets, or sponsorship, we would be incredibly grateful for your help in reaching out to them.  Many businesses are happy to support youth mission work, especially when they know their donation will help make a meaningful impact in the lives of families in need. 
Types of Donations from “Connections” ASP has received in past auctions:
  • Family owns season tickets and donated tickets to one game.
  • Member of private country club requests a golf outing the club will donate.
  • Employer has corporate box seats/tickets & donated them to the auction.
  • Family travels to the same vacation spot every year and reaches out to familiar businesses.
  • A friend owns a restaurant and donated Dinner for Two.
  • Repair Services (Auto repair/car wash, Handy Man, voucher for plumbing, etc.)
  • Salon Services (Haircut & shave, hair color, mani/pedi, hot stone massage, etc.)
  • Handmade Crafts or Artwork  (Pottery, jewelry, framed artwork, etc.)
  • Sponsorship: Usually a cash donation to ASP. Contact us for details.
When your family helps provide auction items, it helps YOUR YOUTH!
YOUTH GET $$$ CREDIT
  • If your family brings in a donation, YOUR YOUTH gets credited with the amount of money RAISED by that item in the auction.
          If a $100 Gift card has a highest bid of $110, you get $110 credit.
If a $100 Gift card has a highest bid of $90, you get $90 credit.

Important!
Please do not “cold call” or solicit local businesses unless you have a direct connection. (Friend is the owner, youth works there….)
  • We contact at least 300-400 businesses for this auction, so we don’t want to be a pest or double-dip.
  • Please feel free to ask us first, we do appreciate the help!
It’s not necessarily advised to buy an item or gift card for the auction. It is usually better to simply donate the money directly to ASP.
However, in general:
  • Gift cards to restaurants, markets, and stores often go for higher than face value.
  • Tickets, vouchers, gift baskets, etc. often go for less than actual value.
  • New, unopened items (unused birthday gifts, items you get at a discount) will usually create a lot of interest and bidding.
  • Save your used household items for the ASP Rummage Sale.
Feel free to check with us first – we truly appreciate your ideas, creativity, and help!
  • Have a great idea for a local business to solicit but want to check if we’ve contacted them already?
  • Have a great item at home but want to see if it’s a good fit for the auction?
  • Please reach out to Debbi or Jen. We always find a way to get creative and are willing to help!
Join Our Auction Team!
Parents/GLs
We are looking for a few parents or GLs to join our ASP Auction Team to help gather donations from local businesses and community contacts. This mostly involves reaching out to businesses you may already know and asking if they would consider donating a gift card, service, or item for the auction. Even your help to secure only a few donations will make a meaningful difference in supporting our youth mission trip. We can help you with letters, tips, and information businesses will likely ask for. (Sample letter)

Youth:  Do you need hours? We need your help!
When we get a commitment from a local business, they will often schedule a day and time that we must go pick up the item. (Maybe because the person donating is there only limited hours.) We need youth to pick up the items on the scheduled time.

  • Two youth can go together, and both get the hours credited.
  • A parent can drive the youth.
  • A parent can volunteer to pick up items. They are allowed to contribute some of those “Parent Hours” to their youth’s required hours.
  • Send an email to [email protected] to get on the list. Let me know the general days/times that you might be available. (After school, weekends, only Tuesdays, whatever.) We’ll reach out to see if you can help once we start getting appointments.
All donations are tax-deductible, and donors will receive a receipt acknowledging their contribution. 
If you would like to consider joining our auction team, or can contribute an item or have a business connection, please reach out to Jen Daley at [email protected] or 814-574-0535 or Debbi Ziegler at [email protected] or 508-439-0431.

With gratitude,
Debbi Ziegler & Jen Daley
ASP Auction Co-Chairs
Reach out with questions,
​join our auction team,
contribute an item or
share a business connection:

Jen Daley 
​[email protected] 
814-574-0535
or 
Debbi Ziegler
​ [email protected]
508-439-0431
​Thank you for your interest in helping us help families in Appalachia.  
If you have questions, please email them to [email protected].