EPHRATA — A fundraising auction to help cancer patients in need raised more than $16,800, starting with an Ephrata business and radiating out to a worldwide group of friends. 

Fabric Patch owner Cindi Rang said it was the third year she and her daughter Brianna Motzkus have sponsored the shop’s Bra Auction. Basin residents and people who watch the shop’s social media channels were invited to decorate a bra and donate it for auction. For 2023 the shop’s customers came through with a lot more.

“This year we added quilts, and we had table runners, aprons — all kinds of things,” Rang said. 

People donated pillow shams and pillows, wall hangings and bowl cozies, along with glass and pottery among other things. 

“I think we had 54 different items that we did through a live auction,” Rang said

It was broadcast live on the shop’s social media channel.

“We had several thousand that were watching live, bidding from all over, even the (United Kingdom) and Australia,” Rang said. “At the auction, we raised about $12,140. And then we had a donate button for people who couldn’t get what they wanted, or who just wanted to throw money into the pot. We raised just over $5,000 on that.” 

All the proceeds were donated to cancer patients, going to individuals rather than organizations. 

“This year we had 53 people that we were helping,” Rang said. 

The bras were decorated with flowers, sequins and beads, glitter and lace. A black and white bra was done with fabric pens and had a tulle skirt and black hat. A pink bra featured feathers and a Slinky glued to each cup. All of them were sold during the auction. 

Rang said she got the idea for the auction because she wanted to help a friend. The woman was battling breast cancer and had good insurance, but still had some expenses that were difficult to pay.

“At that time I knew (a cancer patient) and all they needed was help with travel,” Rang said. “And I thought, ‘Well, how nice just to give them a check, and say, use this on whatever you want,’ That’s why we thought we could do something to raise money.

The bras for the first auction in 2021 mostly came from the Fabric Patch staff.

“We had 12 bras for our first one, and each of us that (made) a bra had somebody we were raising money for,” Rang said. 

The first auction raised about $400 to $500 for each recipient. Friends of the staff, and people watching the shop’s social media channels, liked what they saw.

“The first year it was just us and staff,” Motzkus said. “Then when we auctioned them off, all of our (social media) followers and friends (said), ‘My gosh, I’m in.’”

    The bras auctioned in a cancer fundraiser by the Fabric Patch are wearable art - or just art, said quilt shop owner Cindi Rang.
  

The people who follow their online channel have responded, not just for the bra auction but also for other fundraisers. The Fabric Patch has raised money for McKay Healthcare and Rehabilitation and the Soap Lake community Christmas celebration.

“We have the benefit of having really kind and generous followers,” Rang said. “We’ve done quite a few benefit things over the years, and they always seem to be pretty supportive of that.”

Many of the social media followers have become friends as well as customers, she said, who come to the shop’s quilting and craft retreats and make a point of stopping by the shop if they are in Washington.

The auction has grown so popular that Rang and Motzkus are already making plans for next year, with the possibility of a preview dinner in Ephrata, with its own separate fundraiser, prior to the live auction. 

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at [email protected].