Auction event to fund upcoming D.C. trip
EASTFORD — Eastford Elementary School’s annual Washington D.C. field trip for eighth graders has become a tradition that dates back at least three decades, and if the Eastford School Auction Committee has its way, it will be a tradition that continues for many more years to come.
Every May, eighth-grade students are whisked away via coach bus for a four-day field trip that includes educational sightseeing, delving into the history of the United States of America. Locations such as the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam memorials, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, Ford’s Theater, and Arlington National Cemetery, among many other sights, are regularly featured. Recent trips have also included excursions to Baltimore Orioles baseball games.
Over the years, the Eastford School Auction Committee has led the charge to fundraise for the annual field trip, which costs more than $1,000 per student, on average. The money goes toward transportation, lodging, food, and other miscellaneous costs.
Auction Committee Co-Chairman Charlie Kernan recently sat down with the Communicator to preview the upcoming auction, which is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 16, starting at 5 p.m., at Eastford Elementary School. The event will feature a live auction, a silent auction, raffle items, food, and a bake sale — all to raise money for the trip. In recent years, the number of auction items has reached north of 100 unique and donated pieces, from gift certificates, to art, hand-crafted items, sports memorabilia, excursion experiences, appliances, and rare items.
“It takes a lot of work to make this happen,” said Kernan, who added that work begins months ahead of time, usually at the end of school in June with a kickoff meeting that begins the process of drumming up engagement and figuring out how to put the auction together. This year, the Auction Committee is co-chaired by Kernan and Jeremy Barlow, who both lead a group of about 12 people in organizing the event.
“We are always looking for more volunteers,” Kernan said. “The more the merrier. It’s a lot of work getting out and building awareness, getting donations. We are appreciative of the people that help us out. It can’t happen without volunteers and parents. We need as much involvement as we can get.”
While fundraising may sometimes be a challenge, small class sizes in recent years have caused the committee to consolidate the trip to include seventh grade students. Such a situation occurred in 2022, so in 2023, the school forewent the trip, which gave the committee more time to fundraise. This year (2025), the committee plans to go back to just sending grade 8, while next year’s trip (2026) is currently planned as a grade 7-8 trip because of the current seventh grade’s smaller class size.
“The cost has become pretty robust,” Kernan said, who said that despite the price tag which seems to rise every year (and currently sits at north of $1,000 per student), the committee is currently “in a good place” as it pertains to being able to cover the cost for the currently planned eighth-grade trip in May 2025.
“We are lucky that people in town and surrounding towns — the people who live in this community — are so generous,” he said, adding a particular name — David Jakubowski — who Kernan described as a “a pillar of our auction,” as someone he wanted to publicly thank.
As for the auction itself, proceeds are divided on a sliding scale, starting with the eighth grade, then divided amongst grades 5 through 7. This approach allows each class multiple years to fundraise for the trip.
“My goal for the auction is to do better than we did last year,” Kernan said. “Our population is growing, so one of the things that comes with that is a larger expense for the auction itself. This is such a unique tradition to us, [so we hope] to continue to grow as our community grows, and continue this unique tradition.”
On top of the educational value of visiting our nation’s Capital, Kernan added that a large trip like Washington D.C. always seems to have a unifying effect on the students that attend. These effects are hard to quantify, but are very valuable nonetheless.
“It’s something they get to experience together,” he said, mentioning exceptionally powerful moments on recent trips at Ford’s Theater (the site of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination), past war monuments, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and Arlington National Cemetery, which serves as an especially poignant location and local connection for Eastford residents — because it is the location of the gravesite of Eastford hero Joseph E. Phaneuf (SSG U.S. Army), who died in 2006 in Afghanistan.
“Having those moments with their parents and friends that they can cherish for the rest of their lives — pictures and shared experiences — those are the moments you talk about when you’re older,” he said.
At the end of the day, the Washington, D.C. field trip is an experience that serves as a culmination of the education offered at Eastford Elementary School over nine years, and the auction is designed as the major fundraising event to make it all happen. Kernan said that as of this writing, the committee is “confident” they will reach their goals, but every cent — and every minute of volunteered time — matters.
“People have been responding well,” he said. “We have a great committee. Without them this wouldn’t happen. But we also need parent involvement and donations of time. The more people we have to help out, the more we can put together. The only thing that limits us is the availability of people and the time they have to give. The more people get involved, the more we can spread out.”
For more information on the auction, or to donate time or money to the field trip fund, call the school at (860) 974-1130, or e-mail [email protected].
“If you can, please come out and support the auction,” Kernan said. “As you walk around, you might even find Christmas presents. Walk around, provide a donation — any donation monetarily or through services or products goes toward the wellness of the D.C. trip for Eastford students.”