CureSearch Gold Event in Tennessee Raises More Than $18,000 for Children’s Cancer Research

Most fundraising events are centered around one type of activity – walking or running, selling baked goods, playing sports – but what’s different about a DIY-CureSearch Gold event is that the sky is the limit.

Last month in Sevierville, Tennessee, a community aimed for the sky when they held a BBQ dinner and auction at its local civic center. The event, which raised $18,270 for children’s cancer research, featured a variety of guest speakers, an awesome array of food and more diverse items for its auction than you could ever imagine. And here’s the kicker: about 99% of everything at the event was donated by the community.

Over 105 items were donated by local community members for the auction, including antique collectibles like Victorian dolls and cradles, handmade quilts and blankets, and furniture. People served homemade BBQ, baked beans, cakes (an Italian cream cake sold for $300) and pies (a chocolate pie sold for $165 and a pecan cheesecake pie sold for about $150), and local businesses like Chick-fil-a and McDonalds even donated food and drinks.

BBQ Auction
BBQ Auction

Gift baskets were also put together by hand that held everything from framed pictures, roller coaster tickets and candles to a 2-night stay at a cabin and full salon service for hair, eyebrows and eyelashes!

BBQ Auction

In its fourth year raising funds for CureSearch, the Sevierville event has been spearheaded by Joyce Reed, owner of Advantage Hair Salon & Day Spa, who found out about CureSearch when a customer told her about the organization’s fundraising events and its focus on children’s cancer. As someone who holds a special place in her heart for children, she immediately wanted to do something to make a difference.

For the recent Gold event, Joyce made her special coleslaw and put together the gift baskets. She even went to the local pediatric unit, taking crayons and paper with her, and asked young patients to color the paper. She then turned the art into centerpieces for the tables at the event.

BBQ Auction

Joyce is very humbled and doesn’t want credit for the event – she says it takes an entire community to do something this great. But she is very proud to have her son as the auctioneer, to have strangers come up to her and ask to speak at the event, and to raise awareness for children’s cancer research.

This year’s event may be over, but the very next day Joyce started planning for next year’s event. She already has a few storage boxes full of items to auction, and she will be getting more throughout the year. To her, it’s all about the kids, and finding a way to end this terrible disease.

BBQ Auction

Joyce not only proves that DIY-Gold events can be anything you want them to be, but also that they can be truly successful. We thank her, from the bottom of our hearts, and can’t wait to see what she does next year!

Register for your own Gold event today.

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