Baseball Luminaries Raise Funds for Toys for Kids

Last evening Ken and I attended Rick Rizzs’ and Dave Henderson’s “Toys for Kids” Ninth Annual Dinner and Auction at the Bellevue Harbor Club. The event was founded by baseball luminaries and the audience was sprinkled with several including former Mariner’s catcher, Dan Wilson. We sat with Tom Goodenow, a luminary in his own right and CEO of the Harbor Club. See photo of Ken and Tom above.

For the evening, the Harbor Club was transformed into a perfect venue for a silent auction, seated dinner and live auction for 200 people. Every area of the club was used effectively for displays or dinner seating. The auction items included many baseball memorabilia items with signed baseballs and bats featured prominently. Tom, along with his daughter, Sarah played major league positions in the success of this event. See the special recognition Tom received from Rick Rizzs and Auction Chairman, Bill King; his own Mariner’s jersey with his name and the number 1 pictured above. In addition to providing the venue, Tom bid frequently to ensure that each live auction item went for top dollar. Bellevue Harbor Club General Manager and hospitality expert, Otto Sperka, and his well-trained and personable staff served an excellent dinner. Featured wines were from John Bell, Willis Hall owner and winemaker who was on hand to pour his wines. President of the Harbor Club Board, Barbara Nelson, was also on hand to support the event.

In addition to raising money through the silent and live auctions to buy holiday toys for children that would otherwise not receive a gift, the evening also included recognition of the RBI Club “Moose Clausen” Community Service Award which is awarded to someone within the Mariners’ organization who has made significant contributions to the community. Howard Lincoln was the award winner and he shared a story about how important his Boy Scout Master had been in his life in encouraging him to find ways to give back and help others and that his one regret is that his Scout Master wasn’t there to see him receive the award. His Scout Master died last year at the age of 101. With Howard’s past successful leadership of the United Way of King County annual fundraising campaign, Ken and I had the opportunity to work with him during one of the eight consecutive years when we were Alexis de Tocqueville Society Co-chairs. We remember him putting in a huge amount of time and effort to make that year so successful. We were both very pleased to see him receive the well-deserved special community service award last evening.

I was impressed with the passion for the mission that so many showed last evening. The word “luminary” has two meanings. The first is a person who has attained eminence in his or her field or is an inspiration and there were several there last evening. The second definition is a body or object that gives light and considering what each attendee was doing there last night in helping to raise money for needy children, I think we can safely say that everyone in the room last evening qualified as a luminary!