Lasagna served family style. Background: Chef Vicki Glenn

SIERRA CITY — On Saturday, the Sierra Buttes Snowbusters, a snowmobile club based in Sierra County, held its lasagna feed fundraiser at the Sierra City Community Hall. The event raises scholarship money every year for the Downieville High School graduating class and relatives of Snowbusters members. This year, approximately $4,300 was raised — the most in the event’s history.

The copious selection of items to be raffled and auctioned

More than 120 attended, raising over $2,500 in ticket sales alone for the highly rated lasagna (in meat and vegetarian varieties), Caesar salad, and garlic bread meal cooked by Chef Vicki Glenn. For the following raffle, locals and Snowbusters club members donated close to fifty items, ranging from buckets of candy to pottery. Other donated items were auctioned off, including four framed photographs by Darby Hayes, a formal shirt with a snowmobile-related print, a winch, and a day out on a Piston Bully 400 Groomer grooming Sierra County snow.

The prized Bald Eagle photograph by Darby Hayes is displayed

The auction and raffle were hosted by Snowbusters President Dick Avery, who brought about an entertaining evening for all. Auction items often started around $100 and worked upwards, with the last of the night - a Darby Hayes photograph of a bald eagle - being sold for $475. Generous contributions by raffle and auction participants made up for most of the remainder of the total funds generated, with the rest coming from drink ticket sales (redeemable for wine, beer, and cocktails).

Dick Avery hosts the raffle and auction

Scholarships will be handed out by the Snowbusters later this year based on the number of applicants. The organization also offers second-year scholarships for past winners who reapply and send first-year college grades. In addition to Vicki Glenn and Dick Avery, Snowbusters organizer Donna Johnson thanks Mary Jungi, Patty Hall, and Jessie Gyorfi for selling raffle and drink tickets, Sharon Grenier for managing money and picking up raffle prizes, Lee Kirby for soliciting raffle donations, and Darby Hayes, Rob Latta, and Todd Welty for donating auction items.

Elation at the winning of a raffle prize