A few of the tractors consigned specifically for St. Jude Children’s Foundation

NEW PARIS — This Labor Day weekend, Polk Auction Company hopes to give back by donating to St. Jude Children’s Foundation through their annual Labor Day Weekend Auction. The auction, which is in its 32nd year, will set aside time to raise money, in which 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated directly to the foundation.

Held in New Paris, the auction will be a weekend event starting at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 3, and going through Saturday, Sept. 5. There will be two times set aside for direct donations to St. Jude at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4, and noon Saturday, Sept. 5.

Polk Auction Company has always held an affinity for St. Jude Children’s Foundation. Ten years ago, Owner Jeff Polk’s nephew was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a malignant brain tumor. However, because of work done at St. Jude, his nephew will be turning 10 this year, cancer-free. Polk wants to use the auction as an opportunity to give back, saying “we’ve always supported the foundation, but we wanted to do something more.”

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital deals directly with research on understanding and treating childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

This will be the second year that the auction raises money specifically for St. Jude. Their efforts came to fruition last year, as $80,000 was raised during the weekend alone, which far surpassed their goal of $30,000.

“It was amazing. One tractor, valued between $800 and $1,000 sold 17 times. That one tractor helped raise $30,000 alone,” described Polk of the generosity of attendees last year. “Its a giving, heartfelt group that comes here and we want to work our tails off for these children.”

Polk said that this year he is hoping to beat the $80,000 raised last year, by auctioning off things like Luke Bryan tickets, an opportunity to throw a pie in someone’s face and even the opportunity to cut his wife Christy’s hair, which will be donated to Pantene Pro-V.

A few of the items consigned specifically for St. Jude Children’s foundation.

This year, more than 70 items have already been consigned for St. Jude, including 12 tractors. All of the proceeds from these items will be donated directly to St. Jude. Polk will also be accepting monetary donations.

The auction site already has around 4,000 lots and over 900 tractors ready to be sold and items will include collector tractors, signs, toys, farm equipment and anything else agricultural or collectible.

For more information about the Annual Labor Day Weekend Auction, contact Kris at (877) 915-4440 or [email protected]. The auction will be at 72435 SR 15, New Paris.

For more information on St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital, check out its website.