The inspiration behind an ugly purse

BY JO MAHLUM

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

CASCO – “The way this idea sort of came to be is through one of my girlfriends, Janie. She is from Michigan and she does a lot of fundraising up there. One day we were talking about the fire department, and she was like ‘Why don’t you do an Ugly Purse Auction?’ Well I didn’t even know what an Ugly Purse Auction was,” recalled Debbie Haumschild.

“She told me that because there is nothing like it here in the area, it will grow every year. She told me when the best time of the year to do it is and what time of day it should start.

“Janie was the one who told me all about this. And the hard part is, after the third year I wasn’t able to do it for two years because of COVID. But after the three years that she had helped me, she was diagnosed with three different kinds of cancer, and she ended up dying after about two years. So I kind of do this in memory of her.”

This year’s Ugly Purse Auction — the seventh — will take place on April 27 and is specifically for the Volunteer Casco Fire Department, with 100% of the donations going directly to the department and the men who volunteer their time.

“I started fundraising for the Casco volunteer fire department in 1995 when Wayne (Vandenhouten) was the fire chief,” she added.

“I have been selling Avon products for 37 years now, and at that time I was looking to build my business, and so I started selling Valentine bears, and displaying them at some area businesses. Soon enough, Wayne walked into the restaurant that I used to work at and we got to talking, and I asked him if I could use the fire department and display my Valentine bears if he got a cut of the proceeds. He said the idea would be great, and sure enough I had my first fundraiser.”

At the end of that first fundraiser, she gave the Casco Fire Department a little over $300.

“He and I both thought that was the greatest thing. And I told myself, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if one day I could say to myself that I gave the fire department $100,000? Wouldn’t that be awesome?’ But I never said that out loud to anybody. And with this Ugly Purse Auction, all these years later, I am at $82,500 that I funded for the guys. So with this upcoming event, I will only need $17,499.74 to be exact,” she explained.

Debbie shared that her son Danny Haumschild is going on 11 years with the Casco Fire Department, and that he is a big reason why she continues to host this event every year.

But, the real inspiration was her best friend, Janie. “The first year I took in $2,700 and Janie told me not to worry about the money that I take in because it is more about what everyone takes away from it. I was always so nervous to do this, but she was always there to reassure me,” Haumschild said.

“The next year I took in almost $5,000, the next year was $8,000 and then $12,000 and then finally it was up to $15,000. The firemen are always shocked that every year the purses go up. They never thought it was going to increase as much as it did. I tell the guys, that we need to keep putting up posters and keep telling people about this because that is going to be the only way the purses continue to go up.

“There are 25 purses in total that go up for auction or raffle and the event starts at 7 p.m. and goes until 10-10:30 p.m. This is a family event and kids come so I don’t want it to go any longer than that,” she stated.

This year all of the donations are going towards getting the volunteer members of the Casco Fire Department new gear and new equipment since it expires after 10 years — the gloves, the coat, the pants and the boots all need to be replaced.

“I always ask myself if I would want my son wearing equipment that isn’t fireproof because I know that is how the other volunteer members’ families would feel. For every guy to be fully equipped with the right stuff costs over $3,000 so I always try to tell the people exactly where their money is going.” She said.

The Ugly Purse Auction will be held Saturday, April 27 at E896 CTH N, Luxemburg, at 7 p.m.

For more information, contact Haumschild at (920) 255-2896.