Pat Butler is pictured in front of the solid walnut live edge bench he donated to Calhoun County Farm Bureau that was auctioned off at its annual meeting recently.
(Photo courtesy of Pat Butler)
Walnut table made by Pat Butler raises $4,100
at Calhoun County Farm Bureau Auction
By Bruce Rolfe
A Climax man who enjoys making items out of wood, donated a homemade bench that wound up being sold three times at an auction and ultimately raised $4,100 for Michigan Farm Bureau’s Foundation for Agriculture.
Pat Butler, a member of Calhoun County Farm Bureau, said each year at the Michigan Farm Bureau State Annual Meeting in Grand Rapids there is an agriculture art gallery sponsored by the Farm Bureau Foundation for Agricultural Education. Money raised from the auction is used for agriculture education and leadership programs.
Butler made a solid walnut live edge bench he donated to auction off at the art gallery for the Foundation for Agriculture at the state annual meeting recently.
Butler said there was a record of nearly 40 different contributions that were auctioned off. A vote is taken at the annual meeting to determine the favorite items. The walnut bench Butler made, along with two of other items donated, received the most votes.
Those items were sold through a live auction at the end of the annual meeting. The remaining items were sold through a silent auction.
Butler said the Kalamazoo County Farm Bureau initially purchased the walnut bench for $1,600. The group donated the bench back to be auctioned again. The bench was sold again for $1,500 and the purchaser donated the item back to be auctioned off yet again. The Climax man said the third purchaser bought the walnut bench for $1,000 and kept it, raising a total of $4,100 for the foundation.
He also made a chalk board, a 2 foot by 2 foot map of Michigan made out of wood with the lower peninsula painted in red and white stripes and the upper peninsula painted all blue with stars and he donated a Climax Rotary Christmas wreath he purchased that were auctioned off in the silent auction that captured an additional $165. That made the total amount raised off his donated items $4,265.
Butler said $9,535 was raised in the live and silent auction and was donated to the Foundation for Agriculture to help educate young people and provide leadership training for young farmers.
He made a wooden flag two years ago that made $650 at the auction.
When asked why he makes wooden items each year for the Farm Bureau auction, Butler said, “because I can and I want to.”
“That’s my motivation. Is to help the foundation help kids,” said Butler, a retired deputy fire chief for Kalamazoo Township where he worked 34 years on the fire department, including 18 years full time as the deputy chief.
Butler said he purchased the walnut lumber that had already been planed from a man in Ceresco. He said the bench took approximately two weeks to make.
A graduate of Gull Lake High School, Butler recently made a walnut flag case he presented from his graduating class to the family of Peter Sangalli, who died last July, was a veteran and was his high school principal at Gull Lake.
“You have to give back,” he said.
A Climax man who enjoys making items out of wood, donated a homemade bench that wound up being sold three times at an auction and ultimately raised $4,100 for Michigan Farm Bureau’s Foundation for Agriculture.
Pat Butler, a member of Calhoun County Farm Bureau, said each year at the Michigan Farm Bureau State Annual Meeting in Grand Rapids there is an agriculture art gallery sponsored by the Farm Bureau Foundation for Agricultural Education. Money raised from the auction is used for agriculture education and leadership programs.
Butler made a solid walnut live edge bench he donated to auction off at the art gallery for the Foundation for Agriculture at the state annual meeting recently.
Butler said there was a record of nearly 40 different contributions that were auctioned off. A vote is taken at the annual meeting to determine the favorite items. The walnut bench Butler made, along with two of other items donated, received the most votes.
Those items were sold through a live auction at the end of the annual meeting. The remaining items were sold through a silent auction.
Butler said the Kalamazoo County Farm Bureau initially purchased the walnut bench for $1,600. The group donated the bench back to be auctioned again. The bench was sold again for $1,500 and the purchaser donated the item back to be auctioned off yet again. The Climax man said the third purchaser bought the walnut bench for $1,000 and kept it, raising a total of $4,100 for the foundation.
He also made a chalk board, a 2 foot by 2 foot map of Michigan made out of wood with the lower peninsula painted in red and white stripes and the upper peninsula painted all blue with stars and he donated a Climax Rotary Christmas wreath he purchased that were auctioned off in the silent auction that captured an additional $165. That made the total amount raised off his donated items $4,265.
Butler said $9,535 was raised in the live and silent auction and was donated to the Foundation for Agriculture to help educate young people and provide leadership training for young farmers.
He made a wooden flag two years ago that made $650 at the auction.
When asked why he makes wooden items each year for the Farm Bureau auction, Butler said, “because I can and I want to.”
“That’s my motivation. Is to help the foundation help kids,” said Butler, a retired deputy fire chief for Kalamazoo Township where he worked 34 years on the fire department, including 18 years full time as the deputy chief.
Butler said he purchased the walnut lumber that had already been planed from a man in Ceresco. He said the bench took approximately two weeks to make.
A graduate of Gull Lake High School, Butler recently made a walnut flag case he presented from his graduating class to the family of Peter Sangalli, who died last July, was a veteran and was his high school principal at Gull Lake.
“You have to give back,” he said.
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