Annual auction raises money for Amish school
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ST. IGNATIUS — The Mission Valley Amish community will host their 9th annual Mission Valley Auction July 9. The event helps cover costs for local families who send their children to the community’s private Amish School.
“It is the only fundraiser we do,” parent David Kurtz said. “The goal is to raise $20,000 to $30,000.”
Kurtz, who has five children currently attending the school, said the money raised helps pay for teacher salaries and books.
Ed and Brenda Beachy have had three children attend Mission Valley Amish School.
“There was one year when it (the auction) covered everything,” Ed Beachy said. “Now the school is getting bigger because the community has grown and there are more students and teachers.”
The Amish first settled in Montana in 1903. Present day Amish communities reside in Lincoln, Jefferson, Fergus, Rosebud and Lake Counties.
The Amish people believed that community and faith were interdependent. As a result living as a community apart from the world is key to their faith.
The Amish community in St. Ignatius was established in 1997. Mission Valley Amish School was established shortly after in 1998.
Beachy explained that most of the items auctioned are made right here in the Mission Valley. Amish communities throughout the country also send consignment pieces in support of the annual auction, of which the Mission Valley Amish keep a commission. Though some local artisans donate a few pieces, Beach explained that the majority of the items are consigned.
Past auction items have included handmade furniture, small log cabin kits and tools. Perhaps one the most unique items up for bid annually are the hand-stitched quilts.
The Beachys are in charge of sorting through and tagging hundreds of quilts sent from all corners of the United States and some years from Canada. This year they have some antique quilts from the 1930s up for bid.
“A quilt like this,” Brenda Beachy said holding up a green and blue quilt with a wedding ring pattern, “should sell for 700 or 800 dollars.”
Brenda, who has quilted most of her life, said if people realized how many days of work went into the quilts, they would probably sell for more.
She holds up a lilac, gray and black sunshine and shadows patterned quilt she made for the auction. Brenda’s job is to select the best-stitched and most unique quilts to feature outside of the quilting tent.
According to the Quilt Shop Navigator, a publication that features quilts and quilt auctions, there are seven quilt auctions in Montana.
“We usually have a good quilt crowd,” Beachy said.
A barbeque lunch is also being served. All proceeds will benefit the school.
Kurtz expressed appreciation for the auction’s annual buyers. “If we didn’t have the attendance (at the auction),” he said, “it’s something that would come out of our (parents) pockets.”
