Sugarcreek, Ohio - An event this weekend will help bring the joy of the holidays to area children living in emergency shelters and residential treatment facilities. 

The 9th-annual Operation Grinch Dust Quarter Auction will be held this Sunday at the Harvest Barn at 420 Dutch Valley Drive NE in Sugarcreek. Doors open at 1 p.m., and bidding begins at 2 p.m. Admission to the event is $3 in advance or $5 at the door and includes one paddle. Additional paddles will be available for $5 each. 

All proceeds will be donated to Project Grinch Dust and used to purchase presents for the children of parents staying at the Friends of the Homeless shelter, the Pathway to Wellness and Harbor House residential recovery houses, and the Harbor House Domestic Violence shelters in Tuscarawas and Carroll counties. 

Kim Fincher is the founder of Project Grinch Dust. She said the organization typically provides four to five gifts for each child in the program.

“We actually get a Christmas list from the children for what they actually want for Christmas,” she says. “We purchase a good bit of everything they ask for and sometimes a coat or boots or tennis shoes or something that they’re in need of as well.”

Fincher says the goal is to show the children that there is still magic in Christmas and that Santa will still come for them even if they aren’t in their homes. 

Retail gift cards will be accepted in lieu of cash as payment for auction tickets and paddles. Gift cards may be from Amazon, Marshall’s, Kohls, Carter’s, Target or Walmart.   

In addition, the organization is also selling raffle tickets to help fund this year’s program. Tickets are $5 each and will be available for purchase the day of the auction. 

For questions or to purchase tickets for the quarter auction or raffle, contact Kim Fincher at 330-340-9336 or finch0220@gmail.com or Ashley Bryant at 330-806-2939 or ashleybryantphoto@aol.com.

STACEY CARMANY, TUSCO TV