Steffey auction raises $17,675

In a community whose hallmark is helping, Bloomington residents exceeded expectations by raising $17,675 for the Wade Steffey Memorial Fund, a fund established in the name of the former Purdue student who was found dead after a three-month search.\nThe art auction, sponsored by the Bloomington Area Arts Council and held at the John Waldron Art Center on March, 31, auctioned off nearly 200 pieces of art, including diamond rings, handcrafted furniture, photography and even two pieces by Dale Steffey and Dawn Adams, Wade Steffey’s parents. \nAll the proceeds from the art auction are being used to found the Wade Steffey Memorial Fund, a fund that Rex Steffey, Wade Steffey’s uncle, hopes to have in place in the next three to six months.\n“This is really the seed money for the foundation, and we hope to add a bunch of zeros behind that number” in the future, Rex Steffey said. \nHe said the foundation will offer support in three areas: scholarships for two graduating Bloomington High School South students enrolled at Purdue; funding for training of campus officials in the search of missing college students; and prevention to ensure students’ safety and reduce cases of missing persons.\nThe scholarship will be available by the fall semester, Rex Steffey said, and will most likely require an essay submission on the subject, “What friendship means to me.”\n“Wade’s life was a lot defined by the huge networks of friends he developed,” Rex Steffey said. “We were touched by this. We want to honor an important aspect of Wade’s life, and that’s friendship.”\nEvery person who called the Bloomington Area Arts Council to ask about the event donated time, said Miah Michaelsen, the organization’s executive director.\n“From a healing standpoint, this is a community that really wants to do something,” she said.\nIn Dale Steffey’s opinion, the community certainly did.\n“We were surprised by how many (pieces) sold,” he said. “It was pretty amazing. Out of 200 pieces, only about 12 didn’t sell.” \nMost of the pieces sold at or near their retail values, which is often rare at small, local auctions, Michaelsen said.\n“I was so pleased to see people actually bidding the retail value of pieces,” Michaelsen said. “People understood the purpose of the auction. It’s so gratifying to the artist, and obviously it is beneficial to the fund.” \nMichaelsen said the two pieces that brought the highest bids were both created by Wade Steffey’s parents. The highest bidding piece was fused glass displaying a swimmer that they had created together. Michaelsen called it “a very tranquil piece.” The second piece was a painting by Dawn Adams.\nWade Steffey’s parents said they were pleased with the auction, calling every donation “generous.”\n“For three months, we didn’t know what we were going to do day to day except what we had to do, and that was nothing we wanted to do,” Dale Steffey said in a phone interview from Florida where he and Dawn are vacationing. “It was really great for us to have (the auction) to go to the night of the funeral. It was such a celebration. It really lifted our spirits.”