I had the great pleasure of hosting the Velvet Porter Fundraiser for Mt Hood Climbers at the Lucky Lab Beer Hall in NW Portland Thursday night. And with even greater pleasure I can tell you through the generosity of the Portland climbing community and everyone who attended the happy event, over $21,000 was raised to support search and rescue organizations on Mt. Hood. Groups like Portland Mountain Rescue, Corvallis Mountain Rescue, The Crag Rats and The Mt Hood Ski Patrol. These are the folks who drop everything when climbers get in trouble and go out in what are usually the worst conditions the mountain can throw at us, and put themselves at risk to help save others. They give their time, sweat, skills, expertise, equipment to help those who share their passion for wilderness.

The Lucky Lab was the perfect venue for this event. And not just because they were serving up "Velvet Oatmeal Porter" a special brew the folks at Lucky Lab named after Velvet the dog, who helped keep her fellow climbers warm while they hunkered down in 70 mph winds and white out conditions, waiting for a break in the weather or rescuers to find them, whichever came first (Unsurprisingly, the rescuers came first).
The Lucky Lab had the needed space to hold the hundreds who showed up, but as importantly, it had the vibe. An outdoor, active, cool, friendly and casual mountain vibe. In the heart of the Pearl. Who knows, maybe it is the heart-transplant of the Pearl, donated from the giving folks on SE Hawthorne.

The silent auction items went like hot-cakes. Velvet made the rounds, the climbers manned the tables like they've done a million fundraisers. I've been a part of my fair share, and this one came off beautifully, like it was run by pros. Until the live auction that is, which was definitely not auctioneered by a pro because I was one doing the auction calling. Now, this may seem like an easy thing to do, but having been thrown into emergency auctioneer duty a few times, I have a healthy understanding as to why there are professionals who do this. It's HARD work! Even for a professional blabber like me, this is a whole new ballgame. Great thanks to those who endured my rough attempts to pull this off: "Do I hear three-fifty three-fifty three-fifty three-fifty
three-fifty three-fifty?" One shot at repetitive bidding and I was pretty much done. But the crowd hung in there and we brewed up some great bidding wars, as evidenced by the grand total of donations. I walked away with a brand new wok from the silent auction, and a great feeling about being part of a Portland cimbing community that takes the phrase "taking care of its own" to new heights.

For pictures of the event check out this link to PortlandMonthly.com

Matt Zaffino
Chief Meteorologist
Northwest Newschannel 8

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