Jan. 28—TIFTON — A fun night of food, dancing, and supporting student scholarships will take place at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College’s annual “An Evening for ABAC” on Feb. 25.
The event, which will be held at the Tifton Campus Conference Center, will include a silent auction, a virtual auction beginning on Feb. 22, cocktails, a fabulous dinner, and entertainment featuring a live mariachi band as well as Disc Jockey ETC.
ABAC Alumni Director Lynda Fisher, the coordinator for this year’s event, said the night is one of the college’s highlight events each year.
“An Evening for ABAC is our signature event to celebrate our students and those who support the college,” she said. “This celebration will be another great year with delicious food, great entertainment, and dancing. I hope people will join us for a night of festivities with friends and our ABAC family.”
The event has a rich history, dating back to 1972 when the ABAC Foundation sponsored a fundraiser featuring Anita Bryant to complete funding for the Chapel of All Faiths. One year later, the foundation sponsored a second event with country music star Eddie Arnold, and the annual Dollars for Scholars program was born.
Dollars for Scholars was a popular annual attraction featuring entertainers such as Ronnie Milsap, the Temptations, Marie Osmond, Ray Stevens, Louise Mandrell and Helen Reddy. Trisha Yearwood attracted the largest Dollars for Scholars crowd in 2006 with an audience of more than 1,800 fans. The ABAC Foundation changed the name of the event to An Evening for ABAC in 2008 and focused its efforts entirely on raising funds for scholarships.
Jodie Snow, the ABAC Foundation’s Chief Operating Officer, said the event annually provides over $100,000 in scholarships for the Baldwin Scholars program. The Baldwin Scholars program was originally established in 1985 and was known as the ABAC Foundation Scholars. It has provided more than a million dollars in scholarships to ABAC students.
“These funds provide vital support to our students and allow them to graduate ABAC with minimal debt,” Snow said. “Furthermore, the Baldwin Scholars program affords ABAC the necessary scholarship funds to attract and retain highly qualified students. An Evening for ABAC is a tradition that allows us to come together to celebrate and support our greatest assets … our students.”
Tickets for An Evening for ABAC are $150 for singles and $275 for couples. A portion of the ticket price is tax deductible. For tickets, interested persons can visit [www.abac.edu/evening]www.abac.edu/evening or call (229) 391-4895.
Sponsorships also are vital to the success of An Evening for ABAC. Sponsorship levels include the summa cum laude level for $20,000, which sponsors six scholarships; magna cum laude for $15,000, which sponsors five scholarships; cum laude for $10,000, which sponsors four scholarships; president’s list for $5,000, which sponsors two scholarships; and dean’s list for $2,500, which sponsors one scholarship.
Reserved tables for eight patrons are available for $1,750. The online registration deadline for tables and tickets is Feb. 12. After that, anyone interested can call (229) 391-4900 for availability.
Each sponsorship level comes with a variety of attractive opportunities. Those interested in finding out more information about those levels or sponsoring the event can contact Randi Hickman, ABAC’s Alumni and Development Coordinator, at randi.hickman@abac.edu or by calling (229) 391-4902. Leading the list of sponsors so far are the Bostelman Family, Southwell, and Colquitt Regional Medical Center at the summa cum laude level and the Hilton Garden Inn at the cum laude level.
President’s club level sponsors include James Lee Adams, Synovus/Synovus Trust, and Julie Hunt; Dean’s list level sponsors include AgGeorgia Farm Credit, Allen, Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC, James & Lee Ann Holcomb, Kelley Manufacturing, McLendon Acres Inc., Bob McLendon, PCOM South Georgia, Perrin Farm Equipment, Premium Peanut and South Georgia Banking Company.
