The Second Annual Holly House Gala was held Saturday night at the Mountlake Terrace Senior Center. Seventy guests attended the event, which offered hors d’oeuvres, wine, a silent auction and a live auction.

Proceeds from the auction are applied toward holiday gifts for Edmonds School District children in need during a three-day event in mid-December. The event involves two days of set-up and organization by volunteers, then, on the third day, parents are able to choose gifts for their children. These include toys, books, stuffed animals, clothes, dental hygiene supplies and other gifts and necessities.

If you missed the fun, here’s a sample of auctioneer Troy McVicker working the room:

One of the highlights of the Saturday’s auction event was a testimonial given by Amy Hart, a kindergarten teacher at Spruce Elementary in Lynnwood. She told a story about a student whose family couldn’t afford to take him to Disneyland or Great Wolf Lodge like other families could — but he received a Lego set for Christmas, which Holly House made possible.

“When he came back (from Christmas vacation), in his journal he wrote how he had an amazing Christmas because he got that toy that he had been wishing for for a long time,” she said. “Then as the year kept going he was still so excited about that toy. Even at the end of the year he said, ‘I still have that Lego set. I got to rebuild it.'”

The story was all the more poignant when you heard the teacher get choked up because it touched her so much.

Holly House serves 2,000 children from 15 Edmonds School District schools during the holidays.

Sponsors of the gala were Crossway Church, Electronic Business Machines, Mountlake Terrace Senior Center, Aramark, Brier Pizza, Urban City Coffee and Club Hollywood.

For more information on Holly House, visit their website or their Facebook page.

–Story and photos by David Carlos