Cellarbration for Education Draws Big Crowd

By Cheryl Schweizer, Columbia Basin Herald

MOSES LAKE — Laurie Odegaard kept checking on that petrified wood.

“I bid on a rock,” she said. “Petrified rock.” It was a silent auction item at Cellarbration for Education, the annual fundraising dinner for the Big Bend Community College Foundation. “My grandson is a rock hound,” she said, and the rocks would be perfect for him. (Like her grandson, she’s a rock hound, as well as a BBCC instructor, she said.)

“I think I might have to get the petrified wood,” she said, and she did. “All in the name of education.” Cellarbration is one of the biggest fundraisers for the BBCC Foundation. “This is our annual anchor (fundraising) event,” said BBCC trustee Stephen McFadden.

The foundation’s main focus is providing scholarships for prospective students – recent high school graduates, of course, but also students who are returning to college, or who are starting college after being in the workforce. “There is so much need out there,” said student speaker Stephanie Cardenas.