A Night of Play to Support Peopleplace - Spring Fundraiser & Live Auction

Join us for A Night of Play to Support Peopleplace, our spring fundraiser and live auction! Gather at Pascal Hall in Rockport Harbor to celebrate our community and raise funds to support Peopleplace's work to make high-quality early childhood education accessible for all.

Enjoy:

• Delicious food and open bar sourced from our generous, local community
• Live music
• Live auction and silent auction with 40+ amazing offerings to Experience and Explore
• Connecting with friends, family, and community

Come ready to support our fundraising goals through a:

• Fund-a-Scholarship paddle raise
• Raffle
• Brick Sales

Additional details below!

We are so grateful to our generous community for offering more than 40 incredible items, experiences, and trips, valued at more than $12,500. Select items will be available for bidding during the Live Auction beginning at 7:30 pm, led by guest auctioneer (and Peopleplace grandparent), Dale Schaetzke. Additional items will be available through Silent Auction throughout the evening.

A full list of auction lots will be updated . Proxy/absentee bids will be allowed.

There's something for everyone! Come ready to bid generously on a range of incredible things to Experience and Explore, including:

• Harbor cruises, private charters, and sailboat adventures
• Private drum lessons with Jon Fishman
• Mountain bike rental and private tour (all levels)
• Week stay at a vacation homes on the California coast
• Duck hunting with a Maine guide
• Stays at Sugarloaf and the Craignair
• Private lessons with state champion swimmers and varsity soccer players
• Packages for skating, tennis, golf, and horseback riding
• Self care packages for: Teeth whitening, Acupuncture, Yoga, Financial Advising
• Lessons or experiences for kids (or kids at heart!) from: Herring Gut, Midcoast Music Academy, Camden Ballet Theater, Owl’s Head Transportation Museum, Hope Fire Department, and Peopleplace teachers
• Art workshops, music lessons, bartending classes, pickleball parties, gardening consultations, private tours of local hotspots
• Student art, Cedarworks benches, and more!

A special thanks to the Lesher Family Foundation for donating the use of Pascall Hall for our event!

Gold Level Sponsors:

• Michael Mullins and Mariana Carniel

Silver Level Sponsors:

• Midcoast Chimney

Additional sponsors will be updated soon!

We are also grateful for contributions to the event from: The Peopleplace Fundraising Committee, Hannaford, Bleecker and Greer, Graffam Bros. Seafood Market, French and Brawn, Wesson Family, Sheldon/Domareki Family, Fuller Family, Wolf Family, and all our generous auction donors.

Why do we fundraise? Why are we asking you to give generously and join us in supporting Peopleplace's mission? High-quality early childhood education is one of the best investments a society can make. For more than 40 years, we have nurtured the development of hundreds of children and supported their families. In order to keep this transformative experience accessible, we need your support.

• Knox and Waldo counties face an acute childcare crisis (not enough care to meet demand; full-time and flexible childcare remains unaffordable for most families)
• 40% of our current families depend on scholarships to attend, with 75% of those recipients qualifying for state subsidies through the Child Care Affordability Program (CCAP).
• CCAP does not cover the full cost of tuition; to accept families who receive these subsidies, we must make up the shortfall, averaging thousands per student and doubling our scholarship budget, putting our operations at a deficit for the first time in decades, despite aggressive fundraising and careful financial stewardship.
• Public pre-K programs offer only limited spots for four-year-olds and do not provide full-time care.
• Our costs are rising (including teacher wages), but we cannot continue to raise tuition without significantly decreasing access for working families already struggling to afford childcare.
• These are systemic issues, and we continue to advocate at the state and local level for more affordable care.
• Research shows high-quality early childhood education increases workforce participation and family economic stability and sets children up for long-term academic and economic success. The ROI in this investment is powerful.

You can read more about the "need and opportunity" .

Also check out other Kids events & activities in Rockport, Nonprofit events in Rockport, Sports events in Rockport.