Jewelry, household items and plenty of golf-themed items were up for auction at the Port Ludlow Bay Club as the Olympic Peninsula Chapter of the Boeing Bluebills raised funds for STEM education, school supplies and school meals.

Myron Vogt, co-chair of the Olympic Peninsula Bluebills, reported the Nov. 17 event netted $4,006, which is set to go to the Peninsula Support Organization, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with which the Bluebills partner in the community.

“Half that money will be allocated to education, specifically STEM programs, in Jefferson County for 2019,” Vogt said. “The other half will go toward expanding our World Vision goods distribution program in the three counties we serve — Jefferson, Clallam and Kitsap.”

Peninsula Service Organization representative Bob Reasoner has pledged since at least this summer to help incorporate robotics into every classroom in the county by the end of this year.

“Our goal is to get every eighth-grader to experience the Museum of Flight in Seattle, complete with its flight simulation and lessons on space travel,” Reasoner said.

Vogt said the Bluebills have been working with World Vision for more than 20 years, picking up goods and school supplies in the Seattle area for distribution to schools, churches, food banks, and other agencies and nonprofits.

“World Vision receives surplus goods from more than 800 companies, wholesalers and manufacturers,” Vogt said. “To avail themselves of the program, an agency must purchase a $300 membership each year. Bluebills have an agreement with World Vision whereby we represent 17 area agencies and hold a membership for each.”

Vogt said the Olympic Peninsula Bluebills make the trip to the central warehouse in Fife and pick up an average of five truckloads of goods, which are then unloaded and inventoried at warehouses in Jefferson County.

“The inventory of goods is then offered to agencies in the area being served that month,” Vogt said. “These agencies tell us what they want, and we deliver the goods to them. In total, we distribute to about 90 agencies over the three counties.”

In addition, Vogt reported the Bluebills act on behalf of the 14 schools in the area that have more than 75 percent of their children on free or reduced-price meals.

“Each year, we pick up boxes of school supplies for the elementary grades and deliver to the schools we serve,” Vogt said. “These are from Queets and Clearwater on the west coast, a four-hour round-trip drive, to the Shelton-area schools.”

Vogt broke the Bluebills’ contributions down into numbers, reporting they drive 13,000 miles per year and log about 1,300 volunteer hours for World Vision, delivering $65,000 per year worth of goods and $45,000 worth of school supplies, while paying $5,100 in membership fees per year, and $2,400 in warehouse rental fees per year.

“We depend on clubs, agencies and other organizations to cover those costs,” Vogt said. “And yet, we’re still considering expansion, because every month, 100 percent of the goods we pick up are distributed to someone. As we only deliver once every quarter to each county, we believe the need is there for more goods.”

Vogt said World Vision has agreed to support any such expansion but added the Bluebills need money to rent another warehouse and buy new memberships.

“We also have to recruit and train more members to work on this program,” Vogt said.