President Barack Obama’s recent trip to the Peoria area may end up raising thousands of dollars for Easter Seals.
Keith Gettinger, who works at Caterpillar Inc.’s Building HH, met with members of the White House Communications Agency to see if Obama would be willing to do the charity a favor. “I just asked if the president would sign a few cards for Easter Seals,” Gettinger said. “He was more than happy to do it.” So the cards were framed and put up for auction Friday night during the Three Little Pigs Roast. The roast was held at the home of Chris Chadwick, one of three friends and neighbors in the Chadwick Place neighborhood in Northwest Peoria who started the event last year to raise money for Easter Seals. Don Young, one of the neighbors, said he hoped the autographs would raise a significant amount of money at the auction. “We raised $14,000 last year,” he said. “So we’re hoping (the autographs) will be big-ticket items.” One of the signed cards was framed with a large poster from the Obama campaign, and another was framed with a picture from the inauguration. Both had opening bids of $1,000.
Copies were also made of the signatures, and available for opening bids of $50.