Auction Fever was alive and well as anxious bidders entered the 500 Ballroom prior to the 2010 National FFA Alumni Live Benefit Auction held October 22nd during the 83rd National FFA Convention at the Indianapolis Convention Center. This year’s convention set an all-time event attendance record with a total crowd of 54,942 members, advisors, sponsors and guests.
The annual Live Auction is a major financial contributor to the overall budget of the organization. Highlights of this year’s auction include a 2011 Ford F-150 Supercrew XLT donated by Ford Motor Company. The bidding started at $15,000 and quickly reached $25,000 in increments of $500 until the Auctioneer’s gavel finally fell at $29,500. Other highlights included a 6 month New Holland tractor/baler lease for $7250, New Holland Rustler utility vehicle $7100, 2010 Yamaha Grizzly ATV $4650 and a trip to Germany donated by CLAAS $3750. Proceeds for the Live and Silent auction were approximately $120,000.
The live auction was conducted by veteran auctioneers Mike Jones, President of United Country Auction Services and company Vice President, Shawn Terrel who have conducted the auction the past four years on behalf of the nation’s largest student organization of its kind. Every table was filled to capacity with 736 people registering for the Live and Silent auctions.
Online simulcast bidding was made available by United Country for those who could not attend in person. According to auctioneer Terrel who oversees the online portion of the auction, “this year we experienced the largest amount of active participation through the online component of the live auction” he went on to say “we began using online auction technology on behalf of the FAA four years ago and have experienced significant growth each year”.
"Future Farmers of America" was founded by a group of young farmers back in 1928. Their mission was to prepare future generations for the challenges of feeding a growing population. They taught us that agriculture is more than planting and harvesting-- it's a science, it's a business and it's an art. FFA continues to help the next generation rise up to meet those challenges by helping its members to develop their own unique talents and explore their interests in a broad range of career pathways.
Today, the Future Farmers of America members are our nation’s future biologists, chemists, veterinarians, engineers and entrepreneurs of America. United Country representatives hope that some of the 523,309 FFA members will consider a professional career in real estate or auctioneering. There are 7,487 chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Today, the Future Farmers of America members are our nation’s future biologists, chemists, veterinarians, engineers and entrepreneurs of America. United Country representatives hope that some of the 523,309 FFA members will consider a professional career in real estate or auctioneering. There are 7,487 chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
United Country Real Estate CEO Dan Duffy has committed his company to investing in worthy causes and according to him, none is more important than the youth of America. “As a father of five boys, I am excited about their future knowing that because of the good works of organizations like FFA and its exemplary training of our future leaders, our country and the world as a whole is in good hands” remarked Duffy.
In addition to the United Country Kansas City, Missouri home office team, owners and staff members of United Country-Bonham Auction and Realty, Indianapolis and United Country-Coffey Realty & Auction, Bloomington, IN assisted in conducting the auction.
United Country Auction Services can be contacted by phone at 800-999-1020 or e-mail at tturner@unitedcountry.com and its full list of properties and services can be viewed online at www.ucauctionservices.com.
United Country Real Estate is the largest fully integrated franchise network of conventional and auction real estate professionals in the United States. Based in Kansas City, Mo., the company has been an innovator in real estate marketing since 1925. United Country supports more than 600 offices across the U.S. and in Costa Rica with a unique, comprehensive marketing program that includes one of the largest portfolios of property marketing websites (more than 1,100 separate sites), seven proprietary real estate catalogs with a cumulative distribution of 1.5 million readers, an extensive, current buyer database and national advertising of properties that reaches more than 90 million homes per week. United Country has recently been recognized by Dun and Bradstreet’s AllBusiness.com, The Land Report, Entrepreneur and The Wall Street Journal as one of the top U.S. real estate franchises.
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